The men of St Gloriana
by AngloSamurai
Summary: What if the schools had their male counterparts? After the victory of Oorai in the 63rd nationals and then against University Selection, the male side of the schools start to become more prominent, having always existed but always been overshadowed by the female teams and placed in a separate league, now there are attempts at making a co-ed league. Focus on StG
1. Chapter 1

A 75mm shot clipped off the hull of the Churchill Mark VII, ricocheting into the dirt shaking the inhabitants of the tank, Orange Pekoe paused in her loading of the Churchill's main gun to look at her commander and Lady, Darjeeling who was usually so composed and calm had her fist clenched around the microphone of the tanks communication set and her blonde eyebrows were furrowed in frustration and annoyance. Assam turned her head to see where the next shot was, took one look at her commander, shook her head and poked Pekoe with her foot. Two pairs of light purple eyes met, and simultaneously rolled upwards in exasperation at their commander, who was oblivious to what her crew were doing as she stared intently at the radio.

Another shot bounced off the Churchill's front armour, rattling the tea cups that were stacked neatly behind the radio, they'd been stuck in this position for so long that they had ran out of tea, and Darjeeling was missing the feel of the warm cup in her hand, it provided her with a sense of calmness and grounded her in the here and now. She broke her silence with a mutter,

"What is taking that reckless fool so long", she almost growled in anger, but remembered her manners and stopped herself before she could do so _'A Lady must always be composed in front of her team, it sets the example'._

Her stare was snapped by the sound of four sets of quiet chuckles, all of her crew members were facing her with smirks on their faces and knowing glints in their eyes,

"What?! Why are you looking at me like that!" She quickly fired off the question.

"Oh nothing" that was Assam, "Just that you're always like this when" she sniggered again "-He's- involved" placing great emphasis on the "He".

Darjeeling folded her arms in front of her "I don't know what you are talking about, I am perfectly calm", just then another shell hit the turret of the Churchill, knocking her off balance. Darjeeling screamed internally _'This is all his fault, him and his thrice damned chevalier personality'._ Just as she was about to start snapping out orders to her girls, the radio crackled to life and a masculine, English accented voice came out of it,

"Sorry we're late to the party Darling, Richie here decided to take a short cut, that wasn't either short or a cut" a muffled protest came from the radio and the sound of multiple men laughing at their drivers expense. Darjeeling grabbed the Microphone from Pekoe who'd taken it back from her after she'd let it go, "How many times have I told you to -not- call me Darling, especially on an open radio channel!" ' _The impudence of him! I wish I could throttle him right now' ._

"Oh but I think her Ladyship doth protest too much, don't worry anyway Darling the cavalry is here to pull you out of your mess again" A burst of laughter from the radio again, then a crackle as the channel switched so all tanks were receiving the message "Hello dear ladies of St Gloriana, fear not for the chaps are here! Tally ho lads and into the buggers!", with that the radio went dead, Darjeeling sighed and swivelled in her chair to look at her crew waiting for orders, "Well go on then! You heard him"

 **The Turret of the Comet I**

Henry Fordwaith, affectionately nicknamed the Iron Duke by his commanders and crew, pushed the radio microphone down onto its holder, ending the call. The Comet I sped forward, traversing the open field where the St Gloriana women's team was pinned by both Saunders forces. Shermans began to reverse as they took fire from the men's anti-tank squad, 2 Avengers and 1 3-Inch Gun carrier laid down cover fire as the main force of the men's team sped hastily across the field to their compatriot's aid. Henry looked at his crew, his driver Richard "Richie" Warrington, focused on the field ahead, expertly avoiding the inaccurate fire of some of the panicking Sherman gunners, another Richard, also known as Dick to his friends, and his twin brother Arthur Price, served as gunner and loader for the Comet respectively, and finally, the stock of ginger hair that was Timothy Perkins, who operated the turret's machine gun and served as Henry's batman, not dissimilar to Pekoe's role with Darjeeling.

Both Richards had their eyes pinned on their target, the Sherman Firefly that was desperately trying to turn it turret to get a good angle on the approaching thundering charge of the men's team. The Comet was accompanied by 4 Cromwell V's and 4 Valentine XI's, all medium tanks that packed a good punch, perfect for the style that the men's team had perfected over the years, a glorious sweeping charge, accompanied by a bombardment from the Anti-tank squad, who were currently performing their job admirably despite the long distance, two of Saunders Sherman M4s were already smoking and had the white flag raised.

Henry cracked his neck, "Why does she always get snappy with me, it's always just me! I'm an innocent soul" he protested to whatever crew members were paying attention to him. "It's just your charming personality my Lord", Perkins said with a deadpan face. Henry waved his hand around, "Bah she doesn't recognise good tactics and skill when she sees it, anyway!" he picked the Microphone back up "Norton dear boy, could you potentially start raining good old British steel on that Firefly for me, shake Naomi's aim up a bit" without waiting for a response from Clarence Norton, the commander of the Gun Carrier, he put the Microphone down, and used his neck mic to relay commands to the tanks near him.

"Ok chaps, form a V formation on the Comet, I want two Valentines on either side, and two Cromwells on the flank, when we hit them I want the Valentines to follow us through, but the Cromwells will split off as we hit, swinging around their flank and hitting those damn Yanks in their soft underbellies, understood?" A chorus of "Yes my lord" followed through the radio, Henry smirked and turned off the mic with a click, "Oh dear Kay isn't going to know what hit her…"

A volley of shots caused him to turn his head, as three Shermans exploded into smoke as the Churchill and Matilda's finally decided to start returning fire now that the Saunders forces were shook up by the appearance of the rest of St Gloriania, Darjeerling had lost her entire Crusader force of 6 tanks to Saunders to a pincer movement, that even a commander as reckless as Rosehip couldn't break out of, so she had reverted to her usual defensive formation and turtled on the field, hoping the weather the storm out with her 5 Matilda's and her own Churchill.

The Saunders line finally started to reorganise as Kay and her male compatriot, who's name Henry still couldn't recall for the life of him, started to grasp hold of the situation, half the Sherman line peeled off to meet the oncoming rush of tanks charging down the field, whilst the others, including Henry's original target, the Firefly, turned back to St Gloriania's heavies. Henry peeked his head out of the turret, the wind rushing through his dark brown, almost auburn hair, making his bright blue eyes water, he could make out of the bushy platinum mess of a hairstyle that was Kay, standing out of her M4's turret, yelling orders into her tanks radio, just like he was. He activated his throat mic again

"Davenport, Hamilton, take a sharp left, flank round now" Two Cromwells peeled off from the advancing line, as three Shermans turned to face this new threat, Henry spoke again "Dick if you don't mind chap, take out the middle Sherman", the gunner nodded, glaring down his scope at his target, Richie slowed the Comet ever so slightly to give him a clearer shot, "On the way!" the 77mm main gun exploded with fire as the shell flew through the air and buried itself into the weak side armour of the Sherman, causing smoke to billow from the engine and the pop of the white flag. The empty shell quickly was removed from the breech and the next one was swiftly inserted and locked by Arthur,

"Ready My Lord!" Henry nodded "Gentlemen" he spoke into the mic "Fire at will", this time there was no response, just the echoing wave of shots being fired from his flanking tanks, as they were on the move, the accuracy was quite off, the other crews not quite in tune with each other as the two Richards when it came to moving and firing, but a couple of shots from the Cromwells landed, immobilizing one of the remaining Shermans facing his charge which and they rapidly started to withdraw. _'Hmmm, that makes 6 down, and it looks like Darling didn't make much of a dent in the initial fight, seeing as both teams had 24 tanks to start with, looks it's our 18 vs their 18 now, much more even'_ Henry smirked, he knew that Kay would be loving this, a shell flew past and hit one of the Valentine's dead on, causing it to screech to a halt, the dreaded white flag popped up, his radio crackled "Sorry my Lord, we're out of it" that was George Bradford, "Don't worry about it Bradford, happens all the time, everyone ok in there?", "Just a few bruises that's all, win this for us my Lord!" the line went dead and Henry sighed, he'd been hoping to make this a free run but apparently not, he popped his head back up and scanned the line for the culprit and of course it was the Firefly, he rolled his eyes imagining Naomi with a small smirk on her face as she chewed that damned irritable bubble-gum of hers.

"Browning, Fawcett, take that Firefly out the picture", The two remaining Cromwells fell out of line and sped towards their target, moving too quickly for the Sherman Gunners to pick them off. "Line halt!" The Three Valentines came to a halt next the Comet, their guns adjusted. "Norton, I want these Shermans down now if you please", the Anti-Tank squad had moved ever so slightly forward into accurate range, and began to pick off the Shermans, who were firing at the Cromwells. Kay had 8 Shermans left facing the men's team, the two left flanking Cromwells began to pepper the Saunders tanks with shells, plinking off armour and making dents where they could.

His radio snapped, and Darjeerling's voice came through his headset, sounding like her usual self this time. "Time to wrap this up Hal, let's get to it, I need my tea", he grumbled to himself, he hated being called Hal, both of them were very good at pushing each other's buttons in just the right way to get a reaction, he sighed, 'no time to petty bickering now', flicking his mic on "Very well Darling we'll wrap it up quickly, Perkins my good fellow, I think it's time for a good old tune, I think _'The Girl I left behind me'_ for today". Perkin's saluted, and turned to the radio, soon the tune was emitting from the radio "All tanks will advance across the field!" Both Henry and Darjeerling spoke at the same time, receiving a Chorus of "Yes my Lord and Lady". Leaning down into the tank proper, Henry tapped Richie on the shoulder "Straight for the flag tank if you please", Richie nodded in response, pushing the tank forward.

Popping back out of the turret he scanned the smoke blackened battlefield, as the St Gloriana tanks advanced forward, Shermans began falling left right and centre as Kay desperately tried to protect the flag tank, the Cromwells carved out a path for the Comet, as the remaining Matilda's formed a protective box around the Churchill, their flag tank. The Comet sped through the smoking remains of the Sherman line, scope lined up on the flag tank, Dick took a deep breath, before gently squeezing the trigger….


	2. Chapter 2

Loud American pop music emitted from the Saunders club house, an extravagantly large building where Kay liked to use to further her hobby of throwing parties every other day. Henry and his crew gently strolled towards the front door, dressed casually in jeans and shirts. If the noise was anything to judge by, then the majority of St Gloriania was already inside as well as the whole Saunders team.

"You know, Pop music is never really my thing chaps, but I suppose it'll have to do"

"Oh come along Boss, it's worth it for the privilege of attending one of the great Saunders parties, plus you get some drink down you and it'll all fade into the background" That was Arthur, the loader, a well built lad, standing at around 5'11, with black hair and green eyes, next to him was his twin brother, Richard, also known as Dick to his mates, who was lean where Arthur was bulky. Perkins was next to them, a smaller lad around 5'9, he was twisting a ring on his right hand nervously his blue eyes hidden beneath a pop of ginger hair and next was Richie, the driver, quiet and stoic in comparison to the more timid Perkins and boisterous twins, he rarely spoke out of turn and sported a mess of dark blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Plus, we might get to see another one of the legendary clashes between the Lord and Lady" Arthur spoke softly to his crew mates, they all chuckled, albeit a tad nervously. The arguments that raged between Henry and Darjeeling were common knowledge amongst the Sensha-do team, although, unknown to their knowledge, there was a bet going round that they would either end up together or fall out so badly that one of them would leave the team.

"What was that chaps?" Henry paused with his hand on the door, "Oh nothing Sir! Let's get, inside shall we?" with that Perkins quickly pushed past Henry and into the clubhouse, to be overwhelmed immediately with a blast of hot air, the smell of alcohol and his girlfriend, Orange Pekoe.

"Come on Tim, you need a drink quickly!" Pekoe's normally quiet and soft voice was high pitched and quite loud, probably the effect of multiple drinks, or in this case probably not that many at all. Henry chuckled as his batman was dragged off by his ginger girlfriend. The other men quickly made their way to the bar. He was about to follow but suddenly arms encircled him from behind as an excitable Kay launched herself at him.

"Ooof Kay, a little bit of warning next time" Henry chuckled as the blonde gave him a hug from behind.

"Heeeeey Henry, good match today! Your little charge really got us good!" Kay gave a big goofy grin as he turned towards her after she had released him from her clutches.

"Well when you turned towards us, I was expecting us to end up like Chi-ha tan do all the time" he chuckled and winked, "How'd you manage to get hold of the alcohol, I thought the schools were strict on it?"

Kay waved her hand dismissively "Ah I have my ways, they tend to be more lax after a big match, win or lose, gotta keep up our rep of holding the biggest and best parties! How are things with you and Dar, still at each other's throats?"

Henry flushed red, "You know exactly what it's like, she thinks I'm too reckless and constantly berates me, besides" he looked at Kay slyly "I bet Alisa was listening in to the radio anyway" Kay rolled her eyes and took a sip from the red cup she was holding before thrusting it into Henry's hands "Here drink, you've got catching up to do" He sniffed the drink briefly, smelling the sweet sent of Rum and took a large gulp, the honey sweet rum and coke slid down his throat easily and he quickly drained the rest of the cup.

"Ah that hit the spot!" he chuckled at the flabbergasted expression on Kay's face, "Why are you so surprised? We literally drink sherry before a match, they gave up trying to stop us eons ago!"

He turned from Kay to scan the room, Pekoe and Tim were in a corner, the two Richards and Arthur had acquired themselves some beverages and were standing in a small group chatting with Assam, Rosehip and Rukari, however, he couldn't spot Darjeeling anywhere.

"Hey Kay? Where's Darling got to?"

"Aw it's so cute you're worried about her, and you call her Darling as well, daawwwww you two" Henry turned beet red again and spluttered in protest "Kay-No-no, no, it's just a battlefield nickname"

"You sure it's not a bedroom one as well" Kay winked at him, Henry dragged his hand over his face "God damnit woman you are insufferable, why am I even friends with you"

"Because who else would you come to for relationship advice?", she dragged him over to the bar for a refill of his drink, "Come on, we'll go look for -Darling-" she smirked knowingly

Unbeknownst to them, Darjeeling had overheard the start of the conversation, she'd been drinking beforehand to try and calm her nerves about talking to Henry without flying off the handle, she's even had Pekoe nicely braid her hair, and dressed up in a loosely buttoned white shirt and a red skirt, but she heard Henry mention how he thought she thought of him to Kay and lost her never, tears welling up in her sapphire blue eyes, before she blinked them back. No she wouldn't cry over such a petty thing, she was the Lady of St Gloriana after all!

She glanced down at her drink, alcohol wasn't something that the female St Gloriana students regularly indulged in, but their first Co-Ed victory, and with it being against Saunders, they decided to let their hair down, figuratively speaking of course. Making up her mind, she finished her drink, tossing the cup into one of the waste bags dotted around the room and began stalking after the unaware Henry. Kay noticed her coming and quickly vacated the area to the safety of her sub-commanders.

Henry span around just in time for him to be shoved against the wall by his fellow commander, her normally ice cool blue eyes filled with -something- he wasn't sure, but all thoughts of that ceased to exist as she connected her lips with his.

Henry froze for a moment, he couldn't lie to himself, he'd thought about doing this multiple times but not quite like this but sometimes you just had to take what you were given, so he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her close, deepening the kiss between them, lips moving softly against each other as the initial shock of contact wore off. She tasted like the rum he had just been drinking, her body warm against his.

They were unaware of the fact that the entire room had gone quiet as the stunned members of both male and female St Gloriana teams gawked at their commanders and the Saunders lot followed suit, Henry and Darjeeling slowly broke off, still watching the other.

"So err, not that I'm complaining but where did that come from?"

Darjeeling blushed and stuttered "I-don't know"

Henry rolled his eyes "Always cautious, just like your tanks" he smirked playfully

Her eyes narrowed "Why you- mmph!" her response was cut off as he kissed her again, moaning into his mouth, before breaking it off and slapping him

"Ow! Seriously?!" he rubbed his cheek, now flaming red

"That was for being so, so…..YOU earlier"

He let go of her but she didn't step away "Oh and you weren't being so stubborn and just sitting in a field practically begging to be slaughtered!" both of them started bickering rather loudly, still unaware of the crowd they had drawn

Assam, Rosehip and Henry's team all collectively sighed, it was going to be a long night.

 **The morning after, Henry's house**

The Sun peaked through a gap in the curtains of Henry's bedroom, illuminating the mess that had been left behind, clothes were throw all over and a messy head of hair was barely visible from beneath the covers of the king sized bed, a few birds could be heard chirping in the background, before being drowned out by the alarm clock, which had also been thrown to the other side of the room.

 _Beep Beep Beep, Beep Beep Beep,_ the illuminated numbers on the clocks display showed 8:30AM. At first there was no response from the bed, but after a few minutes of beeping there was an agonised groan, as it's occupant emerged from the cocoon of quilt and sheet. Henry rubbed his eyes, his head was aching, and his stomach didn't feel much better either, he blearily made his way across the room, tripping over on cast aside jeans and landing face first. He just groaned and still lying down on the floor, slammed a hand down onto the clock, silencing the alarm.

Henry lay in silence for a few minutes, before picking himself back up, grabbing a towel from the rack and heading into his en-suite shower

After about ten minutes in the shower, he emerged slightly fresher and more alive and began to quickly tidy his room, gathering up all his errant clothes and pulling his bed sheets back to allow it to air out. His stomach rumbled again, reminding him of it's food starved pain. He didn't even need to glance into the mirror to know he looked a mess, but he didn't care, it was only him and his crew in the house, he unlocked his door and stepped outside into the corridor only to trip over an unconscious Arthur, cursing as he fell.

Grappling with the bannister, he pulled himself back up to his feet, then landed a solid kick to Arthur's right arm, the loader jolted awake, smacking his head against the wall,

"Oh bugger me sideways- leave me be moth- Oh, you're not mother" Arthur squinted at Henry.

"Congratulations, you've still got your eyesight, I'm surprised after how much you drank last night"

"You're one to talk Henry, especially after what you got up to as well" Arthur chuckled, then clutched his hands to his mouth "Oh I'm gonna be- OUT OF THE WAY" he made a quick dash for the bathroom and Henry could hear the sound of him retching the contents of his stomach into the toilet.

Henry snorted, rubbing the side of his neck, then flinching as his hand made contact with what seemed to be an extraordinarily large bruise. "Hey Arthur, did I fall over last night or something?"

Arthur poked his head out of the bathroom door, before bursting into laughter "Oh God no, you don't remember?" he disappeared briefly, flushing the toilet, "Come have a look in the mirror"

Henry made his way past his loader into the bathroom, there on his neck was a hickey.

"Oh? Oh! Wait what" Henry looked at Arthur in bewilderment, "What? Why? How? And most importantly, Who?"

"Oh the others are gonna love this, come on I smell bacon" Arthur pulled Henry downstairs into the shared kitchen, already sitting at the table was Orange Pekoe sipping on some freshly made tea, whilst Tim was just prepping some eggs to put in the pan, whilst bacon sizzled under the grill.

"Pekoe? What are you doing here, I thought Darling didn't like her girls staying at ours?"

Pekoe giggled, "Oh I don't think that'll be a problem anymore, especially after what you did"

Henry looked agape at her for a moment

"You know I think I can see the cogs slowly beginning to turn, bloody hell Henry how much did you drink last night?" Richard came walking past, patting Arthur on the shoulder and with a sleepy Assam in tow.

"Dar-She left this on me?"

"Yup!" that was Rosehip, ' _Is the whole bloody team here today?' Henry wondered_

"Let's just say that you two alternated between arguing and attempting to bite the others lips off" Richie followed behind Rosehip, the rest of the group broke into chuckles.

"Right, right" Henry was quite flustered "and where is she now?"

"Oh, Kay took her home after we dragged you out, she should be awake right now"

"Right, I'll be back"

Henry darted out of the kitchen, the sounds of his teammates laughter following him, dashing into his room he threw on a clean pair of jeans and a t-shirt, some trainers then ran out of the house, making his way towards where Darjeeling and the other girls lived.

Stopping just outside the front door to get his breath back and composing himself, he went to rap his knuckles on the door, but it was already opened. Darjeeling smirked at him from inside, her hair down, dressed in a white fluffy dressing gown and nursing a cup of tea

"How did you know I was here?"

"You're extraordinarily loud when you're out of breath, and Assam texted me"

Henry rolled his eyes "Of course she did, anyway, I figure we need to talk, seeing as you're responsible for this monstrosity on my neck"

"If I recall correctly, you rather enjoyed the process"

"Well clearly, otherwise I wouldn't be standing here would I? Although you could have been more precise, but I guess it's in your nature" Henry winked, as Darjeeling blushed

"Yes – well, come in I guess, we do need to talk I suppose"

"Gosh could you make it sound any less like a chore" Henry responded shutting the door behind him, voice laden with sarcasm.

"Sarcasm is ill befitting of a gentleman Hal" Darjeeling gently chided him

"Well I didn't realise ravishing my neck was considered ladylike behaviour"

Darjeeling had the grace to look abashed "Well you are right there, as much as I hate to admit it"

"I'm right when it comes to multiple things, tanks, you and me, I could go on"

"You are most certainly not right about tanks! Wait, you and me?"

"Oh come off it Darling, we've been dancing around each other for 3 years now, the others even have a bloody betting pool going"

"So that's what Assam and Pekoe have been giggling about, I thought they were just both infatuated with -your- crew mates"

"Hey! Don't blame my lads for that!"

Darjeeling put her tea down on the kitchen table, unlike the men's house the kitchen was spotless, except for a little corner that Henry assumed was Rosehip's

"Look Hal, we've both got responsibilities as commanders and to the school as a whole, we can't repeat last night it was a- "

She was cut off by him cupping her face gently, sapphire blue eyes met ocean blue, her breath hitched as he leant in and gently brushed his lips against hers

"Darling, I understand where you are coming from, I really do, but the teams won't be affected by this, I'm pretty sure they'd rather we be like this than constantly arguing over the radio, and don't you dare tell me it was a mistake"

Her defence collapsed just like that, it was all for show anyway, as she melted into his arms, hangovers forgotten. Her lips sought his eagerly. They remained locked together for a time, before Henry's stomach rumbled, and he reluctantly broke away from her

"Ah yes, so how about a breakfast date?" he cheekily asked

"You are an insufferable rogue!" she replied, a mischievous smile on her lips

"So that's a yes then?"

"If you're the one paying"


	3. Chapter 3

A light breeze whispered across the Sensha-do training ground, fluttering the flag that rose above it, the Union Flag emblazoned in the corner, on a light blue field, with the St Gloriana's classic symbol in the middle. Just beneath the flag pole, which stood in the middle of the parade ground that was just in front of the tank storage facility was a podium upon which stood Henry and Darjeeling, it was dead silent on the grounds, the only sound was the scratching of leaves as the slowly swirled around along the concrete.

Both commanders were attired in full regalia, scarlet sashes across their sensha-do uniforms, Darjeeling had donned a beret that rested elegantly on her usual French braid, Henry also wore a beret, his was a dark red, in comparison to Darjeeling's light blue. Arrayed out in front of them was the full St Gloriana team, all similarly dressed minus the sashes. Also on the parade ground was the marching band, bagpipes and all.

Upon each tank commanders hip was a ceremonial sword, held out in front of them whilst the rest of the regular crew members simply stood to attention. Henry ran over the team once more with his eyes, turned his head ever so slightly and inclined it to Darjeeling who nodded in response.

"Parade will be dismissed, you have fifteen minutes to ready yourselves for training, I expect everyone in their tanks as quickly as possible"

Henry took over there "Parade…left face!"

The click of boots echoed across the otherwise empty ground, as the team turned in unison

"Pipe Major, if you will."

The commander of the marching band, the Pipe Major known was Peppermint, was a tall girl with short cropped red hair, she saluted the two commanders (British style of course), then twirling her staff around, called out

"Parade…QUICK MARCH!" and off they set to the tune of _Highland Laddie_ , the bagpipes accompanied by the drums and fifes of the rest of the band, a mixture of both men and women from St Glorinia's various music clubs.

As the parade marched off, Henry let out a relieved sigh.

"Ah finally, ugh all this drill practice best be worth it"

Darjeeling took off her beret and folded it carefully "You know it will be, elegance and keeping our posture is key to our sensha-do, besides, next tournament we'll show up the rest of the schools at the opening parade"

He smiled wryly at her "You just want to show up Kuromarine after last year's defeat"

Darjeeling simply tapped her nose in response. Both of them made their way down off the podium, then she snaked her arm through his as they walked towards where their tanks were stored.

"I was thinking of making it a bit of a brawl today, think your girls are up for it?"

Normally such a quip would have earned him an earful, but since they had started seeing each other a few days ago, the two had become far more mellow in regards to each other.

"Well it'll be different to the usual, but they should really start learning to think of their feet, after all that's what won Oorai the tournament, we need subordinates who can take the initiative against our opponents, I fear my girls have become too reliant on me."

"Our country will, I believe, sooner forgive an officer for attacking an enemy than for letting it alone." Henry cheerfully said

"And here I thought, I was the one who made the eccentric quotations, Nelson?"

"Correct, we'll need to make sure our sub-commanders know that they won't face trouble for taking the initiative, our way has stagnated recently, and we need to adapt in order to win"

"I couldn't agree more"

The two walked in comfortable silence, Henry enjoying the warmth of having Darjeeling so close to him. When they reached the tanks, she un-looped her arm from his.

"I'll see you out there"

She stood on her tip-toes, and gave him a quick peck on the cheek, before making her way towards her Churchill. Henry watched her go, before shaking his head wryly and smirking, turning towards his Comet, where his crew members were watching him with cheeky grins.

Henry scowled at them as he clambered onto the Comet, "Damn your eyes, get ready to move out"

He slipped into his commanders seat, as the others took position, all business like now. Slipping on his throat mic, he activated it

"Attention all crews, this is Duke, today's training will be different all tanks shall move out onto the grounds and spread out, then upon my signal we shall commence fighting. This will be a free for all match, so think on your feet and don't do anything stupid. That is all, carry on"

"A free for all Sir? You do realise that we outclass virtually all of the other tanks, so they'll probably gang up on us" Perkins spoke up, echoing the thoughts of the rest of the crew.

"Well the odds in a real battle won't always be in our favour anyway, it'll be fun! Now, let's make our start shall we?"

Richie nodded and pushed the Comet into gear, the engine revving as it rolled forwards, the rest of the tanks followed suit. Henry opened up the turret hatch and stood up in his chair, glancing backwards across as the tanks rumbled across the parade ground, he caught Darjeeling's eye as her Churchill made it's way in front of the Matildas. He gave a cheeky salute and if he had been close enough he would have seen her eyes roll up to the heavens.

Dropping back down into the tank proper and closing the hatch, Henry pulled out a map of the training ground

"What do you think Tim? We're more manoeuvrable and faster than the others"

Perkins leaned over, glancing across the map. The St Gloriana training grounds contained forests, a couple of rivers winding their way through the vegetation, some open fields and a couple of hilly sections. "Our gun depression is quite good, so I'd suggest we take up some of the hills, that way we can get a vantage spot and use our 76mm to snipe anyone cross below, plus we can use the hills as cover to retreat if we need to"

"Very good Tim, the hills it is. Richie if you will"

The Comet splintered off from the rest of the tanks, heading its own separate direction, the others followed suit.

 **Half an hour later**

Henry peered through his binoculars over the ridge of the hill the Comet was parked on, there were trees on either side which provided cover, a shallow river behind it and an open field in front, creating a perfect kill box.

The still air was shattered by a large boom, and the crackling of a shell that flew over the Comet and exploded in the river, Henry flinched as it passed by, before attempting to find their attacker.

From the tree line came another flash and a crack as another shell sailed through the air towards them "FULL REVERSE NOW!"

The Comet just made it back in time before the incoming shell landed smack bang where they had been previously, sending dirt, stones and grass flying past Henry. He felt a sharp burning pain strike his right cheek as he had failed to duck down into the turret in time.

Letting out a soft hiss as his right hand made contact with the sticky blood that was now dripping from the slice across his cheek, Henry brought his binoculars back up, locating their enemy. The 3 Inch Gun carrier sat on the tree line, barrel smoking.

"It's the carrier, position north, line it up if you will, sabot round."

"Ready!"

"Fire."

The whumph sound, and clang of the empty shell casing hitting the floor of the tank indicated that the 76mm of the Comet was unleashing it's revenge on the Gun Carrier. A second that seemed like an hour passed as the round from the Comet flew cleanly across the plain and scored a direct hit on the Carrier, knocking it out, the white flag popping out of the top.

Henry grinned, despite the pain that muscle movement caused, "Good shot, reload and lets move the others would've heard that"

More explosions could be heard in the distance where other tanks had started to engage each other. "Head for the nearest sounds, we'll see if we can clear up the victor"

Making their way through the forest to the right, the smoking remains of one of the Matildas came into view, following the sound of the explosions the Comet soon came across a group of tanks all engaged in a furious engagement.

A Crusader sped across the clearing in an attempt to flank around an Avenger, which fired off a reflex shot, missing and taking a shot from the Crusader in the flank causing it's flag to pop. The Crusader in turn was flipped by a shot from a Cromwell causing it to land on its back from the momentum of its charge.

Henry tapped Richie with his foot, indicating for the Comet to stop. Pulling up, the gun was sighted on the Cromwell, "Fire when ready"

"ON THE WAY"

The shell casing was spat out as the Comet fired yet again, but the Cromwell commander had quick reactions and the tank sped out of harms way leaving the shell to crash into a tree just behind, sending it toppling over.

"Miss, with those reactions that must be Davenport – SHIT"

A shell clipped off the side of Comet, grazing the St Gloriana emblem, henry battened down the hatch, frowning as the cut on his cheek kept bleeding.

"Tim, give me a cloth"

Perkins passed him a white handkerchief, which he then folded into a square and pressed it against his cheek, instantly staining it red.

"I'll be fine, head wounds bleed like the devil, it's nothing. Now where did that shot come from?"

Peering out of the Commanders eye slit, Henry found the culprit, the Churchill was sitting just to their right, barrel pointed directly at them.

"Oh, bravo Darling, very well done. Richie into the clearing please, Arthur load smoke, Dick lay down the smoke just in front of the Churchill"

Just as Dick had aimed the smoke, another shot took the Comet in the side, rattling the inhabitants causing the shot to go wild.

"Blast, forgot about Davenport, Richie full ahead for the Churchill, get around it's back we can drive faster than it's turret can rotate."

"Oh, Assam is going to murder me later…" Richard murmured

"You think you're going to get it bad? I'm pretty sure that was Rosehip who got hit earlier, and she really likes taking out her frustrations on me"

"You sure that's a bad thing?" The crew burst into laughter at Arthur's quip at the driver's expense.

Henry smiled, aggravating the still open cut on his cheek, causing him to wince. Richie pushed the Comet forward, zipping over the uneven ground which in turn threw its occupants who weren't the driver around like rag dolls that had their strings cut. The Churchill snapped off another shot, landing just in front of the Comet spraying it with dirt and roots from the nearby trees. Henry gritted his teeth, _Come on._ The Comet sped past the Churchill, Assam attempting to rotate the turret fast enough to follow, Richie turned jerking the Comet to the right skidding across the ground, Richard aligned the gun and Arthur slammed home a shell whilst Tim peppered the turret of the Churchill with machine gun fire to keep Darjeeling's head down.

Time slowed as the green tracer rounds pinged off the armour of the Churchill, Richard's finger tightened on the trigger of the main gun, waiting for his command

Henry paused – "Finish it" he nodded at Richard

Without a word Richard squeezed the trigger and the shell was spat out on its destructive path, colliding with the Churchill with an almighty bang. The men of the Comet did not have time to celebrate their victory over their female compatriots as the next minute a shell slammed into their rear armour, causing smoke to fill the turret as the engine gave up and the white flag pinged out

Coughing and spluttering the crew abandoned ship, as the Cromwell that had taken them out roared by. Seeing as there were no other active tanks in the area, it was deemed safe enough for them to dismount, Tim retched violently on the floor attempting to clear the smoke from his lungs, Arthur had bruised his leg badly and was being supported by his brother, whereas Riche was fine having been at the very front of the tank. Henry's cut had stopped bleeding at this point, leaving tracks of dry blood across his face, his uniform was also ruined, covered in soot and blood stains which left dark patches across his scarlet tunic.

He shook his head to clear it from the ringing that was echoing in his ears from the shot the Comet had taken, moving over towards where Tim was doubled over he knelt down next to him and wrapped his arm over his shoulder, the retching stopped and Tim looked at his commander who was staring down at him with worried eyes

"I'm **Cough** fine Sir, just a bit of smoke" hes said as tears streamed down his face.

"Alright, but make sure you get some water down you as soon as possible, don't need you dying of smoke inhalation, Pekoe will murder me"

Tim chuckled before breaking out into another coughing fit as Henry eased himself back to his feet, wincing at a dull throbbing pain in his lower back indicating the formation of a very large bruise. He glanced over his crew, who were more or less fine now and then crunched his way over to the Churchill, clambering over the front armour he hauled himself and opened the commanders hatch, to be met by a very serene pair of eyes, with eyebrows slightly furrowed at the state of him

"You look terrible" Darjeeling's French braid was coming undone, loose strands of hair covering her face and a few scratches but nothing too bad.

"You should see the other guy" Henry dryly quipped, offering his hand down to help her up, which she took despite the grime covering it.

"I believe in this case, I am the other guy" Henry went to brush the stray strands off her face but she caught his hand, "Not here, later"

"Is that a promise?"

She just winked at him, before turning to help Pekoe out of the tank, Assam clambered out of the driver's hatch, followed by the other two crew members who Henry couldn't remember for the life of him.

Pekoe gasped at seeing Tim still kneeled over on the floor so and jumped down from the Churchill and ran to his side, helping him stand. The diminutive Pekoe never ceased to surprise Henry with her strength, Assam merely cocked an eyebrow at Richard, who rubbed the back of his head abashedly.

"How long do you reckon it'll take the recovery vehicles to get out here"

"Long enough for you to stop bleeding all over by tank"

Henry huffed in response.


	4. Chapter 4

Soft piano music emitted from Henry's speaker, sat on his desk in his Commanders Office, the office was spacious ; a window at the back gave Henry a view of the parade ground, a large map table dominated the middle of the room, a mahogany desk sat near the back, with a brown leather office chair, on it sat a pencil holder with a small wave able version of the St Gloriana battle flag resting in it as well as an assortment of pens. The desk was well ordered, stacks of reports on one side and on the other some various books, such as Sun Tzu's _Art of war._ There were a few shelves which held on them the various maps and pieces that would be used by the teams when planning their next engagement, at the moment the map table was clear except for Henry's ruined red jacket stained and ripped beyond saving, his commanders sash miraculously survived the tank practice, the bright scarlet silk folded neatly next to the discarded jacket.

The Commanders office had a private bathroom attached to it, the door to which was ajar so the sound of the piano could be heard, inside Henry was slumped over the sink with the hot water running, throwing steam into the air. His entire body ached from being thrown around aggressively during their last charge against the Churchill, he was just clad in his black trousers, on his lower back a large angry purple bruise had formed, making any sharp movements painful. He splashed some of the hot water on his face, watching the crusted blood melt off leaving just a raw cut which would start to scab over in the next few days, rubbing his hands with some soap he carefully cleaned his face, the sting of the soap against the cut an odd relief in comparison to the dull aching pain from his lower back. So engrossed in cleaning himself up, he failed to hear the quiet click of his office door being locked as someone slipped inside. He washed his face with water once more, then grabbed a towel from the railing attached to the wall of the bathroom and gently patted his face with it. Looping the towel over his shoulders he made his way towards the bathroom door, turning off the light switch as he walked past and closed the door behind him.

Turning around he was greeted by Darjeeling sitting behind his desk, wearing a casual white shirt and black skirt, she merely calmly ran her eyes over him in appraisal. Henry flushed red,

"A little warning would have been nice, I could have been completely naked"

"I feel that would embarrass you more than me" Darjeeling smirked from the chair "I did tell you later"

"Mhm I suppose you did" Henry padded over towards her "You're in my chair"

Darjeeling merely cocked an eyebrow at him, the smirk still on her face. Sighing he moved behind the desk and simply scooped her up, his aching muscles protesting.

"Hal! Put me down!" She started softly hitting his chest with the palms of her hands, Henry sat down with a sigh, leaving her on his lap

"That's better" his abused body cried out in relief at the feeling of the soft leather beneath him.

"You are outrageous"

"And you're a tease" Darjeeling traced the cut along his cheek carefully, making sure not to put too much pressure on it

"Your hot-headed antics are going to end up with you either dead or badly injured one day"

Henry grunted "I'm glad you care" Darjeeling leant down and gave him a soft kiss

"Of course I care that doesn't mean I'm going to stop berating you for reckless behaviour"

Henry moved his hands up her side, "Well I wouldn't have it any other way" he pulled her down and deepened the kiss. The two stayed like that for a while, before Darjeeling disengaged from him and stood up gracefully.

"We should do the after-training report"

Henry sighed, "All work and no games with you"

Darjeeling ignored him and continued "And please, please put a shirt on, you're distracting"

"You're the one who barged into my office!" Henry replied indignantly

"Hal. Shirt. On. Now" Grumbling he stood up, muscles still aching and made his way over to where his spare shirts were kept, pulling on a light blue one, he quickly buttoned it up. Turning back around he saw Darjeeling watching him keenly, before she blushed and turned to pick up some papers.

"You sure you wanted me to put the shirt on?"

Darjeeling just ignored him and pulled out a wad of papers from the desk, "Work."

Henry sighed, she was back in commander mode, "Well, we have the after battle reports from the engineer club and the battle managers (A group of St G students who watch and record every battle), so the winner was Davenport in his Cromwell which is no surprise really"

Darjeeling flicked through the papers, "My girls were highly outmatched and easily beaten when they aren't in a pack, what can we do?"

"I'd suggest we request new tanks for them, the Matilda is nice and all but you don't match up with the other girls teams, and before you say anything I know the board of directors will kick up a fuss, but we still need to try"

"I'm still surprised you managed to get your hands on a Comet, how did you do that? You never did tell me"

"Well I just showed them the charge of the British heavy cavalry in the Waterloo film from the 80s and said that it's tradition and they just went with it"

"Well I suppose you are all as reckless and hot headed as British cavalry of old"

"-Again- with this, we don't all like pretending to be tortoises with guns"

Darjeeling glared at him for a moment before bursting into a peal of laughter, which sounded to Henry like the tinkling of glass, "Oh my, no wonder the others were being driven mad by us, we really are a pair"

"Well we have been acting like an old married couple for the past three years." Henry winked at her as he shuffled some of the papers into order.

"Is that a proposal?"

Henry stopped dead "Errrr-wha errrr"

Darjeeling broke into laughter again, before gently pulling him over towards her by his shirt collar and planting her lips on his.

"Don't worry, I won't attach the ball and chain to you just yet"

Henry flushed "We've been seeing each other for three days woman, don't start threatening me like that" he chuckled

The two lapsed into silence as they focused on the paperwork in front of them, Hal filing away the damage reports and repair costs for his team and vice versa. Darjeeling pulled up her phone and started looking at potential tank replacements for her team. After about half an hour of them scratching away at the paper with their pens, there was a knock on the door.

Henry stood up and took the latch off, opening it up to be greeted by Assam.

"Hello Sir Henry, is Miss Darjeeling in?"

"How do you know these things, I swear you must have some sort of evil power."

Assam merely smirked at him, "Let her in Henry, she's got some information for you in regard to the next match" Darjeeling's voice came from the desk. He stood back and held the door open for Assam as she wandered into the office, pulling up one of the spare chairs next to her commander.

"Well I assume this is about the match against BC Freedom right? It's just the male teams going at it"

"Yes, I'll keep it simple, you'll be facing ARL-44 of the ACL-1 variant, alongside Char B1s and Hotchkiss h39s . A balanced build, lots heavy armour and can pack quite the punch if they catch you off guard. The H39s are skirmishing tanks, they will prove quite the nuisance if you let them slip away, whilst the B1s and the ARLs will push through your lines quicker than we can drink tea if you give them the chance."

"That fast? Bloody hell."

"Yes, they are small, quick and pack a punch but have weak armour so the Cromwells should take them down easily enough"

Assam slid a piece of paper across to him, "This is their full roster"

 **BC FREEDOM MEN'S TEAM**

 **Commander – Philip "Augustus" D'hauve, ARL-44**

 **4x ARL-44s**

 **6x Char B1s**

 **4x H39s**

 **Research suggests that the team is made up of students from both sides of the divide at BC Freedom, whilst their commander tries to ensure balance, there is still a trust issue between the two groups, I would strongly suggest exploiting this.**

 **In terms of tactics, they appear to prefer a classic French Napoleonic attack, they send out the H35s first as a screening unit, followed by a double line of the B1s followed the ARLs at the back, once broken up it should be easy pickings, but it's the breaking up that is the issue.**

Henry stroked his chin in thought, "I think an easy encirclement might be the answer here, leave about 4 tanks with the anti-tank group at the front to give the frogs a target, then swing around with the remainder on both sides and pick them apart…Do we know the terrain yet?"

"Not confirmed as of now, we still have a couple of weeks before we dock next, but we should know before then"

"I see, alright thank you Assam, I'll call a meeting tomorrow with the others. Also, don't kill my gunner, I need him"

"I make no promises" Assam responded with a sly grin, packing up her papers.

As the gunner/intelligence office left the room, Henry sighed and toyed with the idea of texting Richard to inform him that his girlfriend was very much on the warpath but decided against it.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Hmmm? Oh sorry, was just wondering I should potentially stop a murder or not"

Darjeeling laughed, "I'd suggest not depriving Assam of her revenge, otherwise I'd have to find a new Co-Commander"

"And boyfriend"

Darjeeling rolled her eyes, "Yes and -Boyfriend-"she stressed the last word.

"So how about we tidy up here and you let me treat you like a good boyfriend should?"

She looked at him through lidded eyes, "And what would that involve?" her tone was light hearted

"How about a romantic candle lit dinner, followed by a nice movie."

"Hmmm, alright then on one condition."

"Which is?"

"I pick the film."

Henry groaned, "Oh woe betide me, sacrifices must be made I suppose"

Darjeeling merely smiled widely.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N**

Thank you everyone, who has followed/favorited the story thus far. I hope you're enjoying reading it as I am enjoying writing it! and a special thank you to the people who have left reviews, they really help me continue writing and give me a tonne of motivation. I won't be adding smut into this as I am terrible at writing it, so sorry to everyone who was expecting that, but things might get a bit heated every now and again

 **St Gloriana Male team lineup**

Overall Commander – Henry "Iron Duke" Fordwaith, Comet I.

His Crew- Timothy Perkins (Turret operator/Machine gunner and Henry's Batman), Richard "Dick" Price (Gunner), Richard "Richie" Warrington (Driver), Arthur Price (Operator/Loader

4x Valentine Mk XI- John Axton, George Bradford, Russell Graham, Edward Langdon

2x A30 SP Avenger's – Walter Payton, Philip Oakley

1x 3-inch Gun Carrier – Clarence Norton

4x Mark V Cromwell - Reuben Hamilton, Amos Fawcett, Matthew Davenport, Percy Browning

 **The St Gloriana tank shed**

Henry cast his eyes over the men gathered in the shed, he was stood on his Comet and in front of him milling around where his commanders. The Valentines; John Axton, George Bradford, Russell Graham and Edward Langdon. Axton and Graham were fairly new to the team, whereas the others had been on it since Henry had started, thus balancing out that squad in terms of experience. The Anti-Tank group; Walter Payton and Philip Oakley on the commanding the team's two Avengers and Clarence Norton, the command of the 3-Inch Gun Carrier, a role he never stopped complaining about, but Henry knew he loved it really. Finally, the Cromwell band; Reuben Hamilton, Amos Fawcett, Matthew Davenport and Percy Browning. Davenport is considered the second-best commander on the squad and the others weren't too shabby themselves. They are the commanders of Rosehips Crusader platoon were well known for their mischievous antics both on and off the field.

Henry cleared his throat loudly, garnering the attention of the men. "I apologise for dragging you all out here during lunch, but last night our dear Intelligence service brought me the latest information on the BC Freedom team, so pay close attention."

Henry's crew moved around the shed, handing pieces of paper out to the gathered commanders. Small bursts of conversation broke out as they digested the information on the paper.

"Sir, this is a lot of armour on here." Spoke Bradford, "Are you sure we can do this?"

"Patience Bradford, don't give in to fear so easily" Henry winked at him, as he stammered to himself and flushed bright red.

"ARL-44s….do we know what variant Sir? The female team uses the long-barrelled ones if I recall correctly." That was Davenport.

"Well, Assam guessed that they are the ACL-1 version, which we can assume to be correct as, like you say, the female team uses the other type, and as we all know the schools don't like both teams using the same tanks."

Nods of agreement and murmurs of support came from the crowd, "So, you're probably all eager to hear how we will deal with this considerably heavy line up." Henry dropped down from the Comet and motioned for the commanders to clear a space. Then he nodded to his crew and they lay down a large printed map in the middle of the space and placed rocks on the corners of it to hold it down.

"Now, we don't know the terrain just yet, however, we do know the tactics that this team likes to employ. Much like ourselves, they like to model themselves off the Napoleonic era, of course being French instead of British. Thus, they follow a pattern similar to that of the French army from that period. They will send out their H39s as scouting tanks, to pepper us with shells in order to break up the formation and cause confusion, then they send in the B1s in a double line to smash their way through our tanks. Finally, the ARLs follow up to clean up the mess the B1s left behind them."

"Now, against a more stationary foe or a full-frontal charge, this tactic is impeccable. I watched a replay of them playing against Chi-Ha Tan, and they annihilated them as expected. Our plan will be hard on both the Valentines and the Anti-Tank lot, whilst the Cromwells follow my lead."

Henry's crew ran forward and began placing models on the map, "Here we see the BC freedom team, advancing towards what they think is our main force." Tim placed down the Anti-Tank group, "The anti-tank squad's primary role is to provide effectively blanket artillery, supported by the Valentines on both flanks to keep the H39s away. The key point to this is to remain in a fixed position, thus luring in the BC lot."

Richie and Arthur pushed the BC models forward towards the St Gloriana models, "Now here is the important part, when the B1s come within firing range, the squad must slow retreat, still facing the enemy. Now I know this is a change to our usual gung-ho attitude but that comes later."

The crew continued to push the models around, "Sun Zu says _let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt_ , hopefully our enemy will now be confused as to why we've not charged at them yet, this is when the retreat stops and we start pushing. The Cromwells and I will then strike from the rear and side, taking out the ARLs first. Whilst the rest of you focus on stopping the others from turning to help. Myself and Davenport will then take on the flag tank and end the match like that."

"I cannot stress this enough; our benefactors will be watching this match as always and thus we cannot lose this. I have faith in each and every one of you and your crews that we can pull this off…. For St Gloriana!"

" **FOR ST GLORIANA**!" The assembled men cheered, startling a cat that had been resting on the barrel of the Churchill, as it gave a frightened meowl and scampered off.

Once the cheering had died down, Henry stood back on the Comet, "Thank you gentlemen, we have two weeks until the match, so I expect all of you to train hard and make sure your crews understand their roles, the meeting is adjourned. Good day to you all."

The Commanders all saluted in unison, then split off into their various platoons and wandered off out of the shed. As the sound of their chatter faded into the background, Henry sank down onto his Comet and let out a tired sigh.

"You ok Henry?" Arthur stood in front of him as the others cleaned up the map and models

"Fine, thanks Arthur. Just overworked, I'm glad to see your brother survived the murder attempt last night."

Richard blushed and winced as he stood up too quickly, "Back trouble Dick?"

"You could say that…" he muttered

"I don't think they treat that particular kind of back pain in the hospital," Richie said with a wide grin on his face.

"Yeah, well at least I didn't break the bed last night and wake everyone up in the house"

Henry burst out laughing, "Wait you and Rosehip broke the bed? Good God man you weren't kidding about her taking out frustrations on you"

"What can I say, I shouldn't have complained beforehand"

The group shared a laugh again, before they began to wander towards the exit. Henry, however, caught a flash of blonde hair behind a Cromwell, "Take the rest of the stuff to my office chaps, I'll see you at the house later."

"Alright Henry, see you around." The others began to move off across the parade ground towards the Commanders huts. Henry paced over towards Cromwell, as he was about to turn the corner, an elegant hand came out and pulled him along by his school blazers neck. Startled, he grabbed the hand and pulled Darjeeling out of the shadows cast by the tanks

"You really need to stop lurking."

"What can I say, I enjoy listening to your voice when you get worked up."

"Why are you here? I thought you'd be in the tea room with the others."

"Ah, well I was just making some last-minute checks on the tanks and thinking about upgrades when you came gallivanting in, so I thought I'd surprise you."

Henry smirked, "A surprise to be sure, but a welcome one."

Darjeeling was taken aback, "Are you using Star Wars quotes to flirt with me."

He took upon the look of innocence, "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Oh, shut up" She grinned and pulled him down for a kiss.

Henry was content to let them stay like that for a minute, softly moving lips against each other, before wrapping his arms around her waist and hoisting her in the air so their heads were level.

Darjeeling let out a surprised shriek, as her tight clad legs automatically wrapped themselves around his hips, "HAL! Some warning please."

"Consider that payback for last night."

"The movie or me walking in on you?"

"Both."

They both chuckled, before re-engaging their lips, this time more aggressively. Henry nipped at her lower lip, pulling a breathless moan from her, before running his tongue over it.

Darjeeling retaliated in turn before they engaged in a duel of tongue and teeth. This continued for a while before they both pulled back for breath. Chests heaving against each other. "We're not doing this in a tank shed."

"And I suppose it's technically still the school day…. later at yours?"

"How presumptuous of you!"

"That's why you keep me around."

"I suppose it is, now let me down."

Henry chuckled as he let his girlfriend back down to the floor, "Very well, I guess I can fall for your roguish charms this time, we'll continue this later Hal."

Henry straightened out his uniform, the men's consisted of a Blue Blazer with the St Gloriana logo above the heart, a white shirt with the blue tie, black trousers, and black leather shoes.

"Your tie is loose Darling" he quickly tightened it to its usual perfection, before looping her back in for another soft kiss. She allowed it to continue for a few moments before pushing against his chest, "I meant it when I said later, I fear if we continue here now we'll be caught in a -very- compromising position, and I really do not want Assam holding that above my head for the rest of my life."

Henry laughed again, "Oh the others would not let me live that down, come on then. You go first I go first?"

"You go, I'll follow in a few minutes"

"Alright, take care." He brought her right hand up to his lips and pressed a kiss onto it, before turning back around and making his way outside, where he was greeted by his crew all of whom were sporting the same shit-eating grin.

"Not a bloody word, or I'll have your hides for breakfast."

"Take Arthur first, he's gotten fat recently."

"You take that back, -Timothy-." Arthur put on a falsetto

Tim stuttered, "How- no I don't want to know."

"You might want to tell Pekoe to invest in a quieter indoor voice."

Henry cuffed Arthur over the head, "You leave my batman alone fatso"

"Oi!" the indignant loader cried, as the rest of the crew chortled at his expense.

Darjeeling watched them leave from inside the shed, as her phone buzzed in her pocket, flicking it open she saw a text from Assam _'have fun?'_ followed by a winking emoji. She quickly typed back a response, _'have I ever told you, that you are far, far too good at what you do?'._ She shook her head and smiled to herself as she meandered cheerfully out of the shed.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N**

Sorry for the delay with this one, I finally finished my dissertation for Uni so that took up a lot of my time and this took the back seat for a brief time. I have a few more assignments to do, plus some work for my job application so expect more sporadic uploading!

AnimePsychologist

Thank you so much for the review, your current fic really captured my imagination and is beautifully written, so I really am awestruck by the fact that you are reading mine as well :) I'll take your advice into consideration!

 **Two weeks later**

The sun rose above the Ark Royal, illuminating the carrier with its bright beams, in the tank shed the engineer teams who had been working all through the night were finishing up the last-minute repairs and checks on the tanks. A few of early risers on the team were there as well, loading up their tanks with shells and tea supplies. Across the carrier the rest of the school began to stir, Matthew Davenport and his crew were in the carrier's canteen, sipping on tea and finishing off their breakfast. Other crews were slowly making their way across the carrier either towards the tanks or in search of a bite to eat. Henry's house was starting to stir as well, Tim and Pekoe were once again in the kitchen, preparing a full English breakfast for the others, the smell of which was permeating the house slowly. Arthur emerged from his room with a yawn and cracked his neck as he smelt the food, and began to make his way downstairs, Richard and Assam had fallen asleep on the sofa where they had been sat last night going over some last details on Assam's laptop. Rosehip and Richie also emerged from Richie's room, both looking worse for wear as he hadn't still got a replacement bed.

In Henry's room, he slumbered on, chest rising and falling slowly as his arm tightened around the person who he shared the bed with. Darjeeling's normally impeccable platinum hair was undone and fanned out on the pillow as she curled up into Henry's side.

There was a light tap on the door, "Miss Darjeeling, Sir Henry, sorry to bother you but breakfast is ready, and everyone is downstairs" Pekoe's timid voice came through the door, stirring the occupants of the bed. Henry groaned and ran his left hand over his face, as his right was trapped underneath his girlfriend. "Thank you, Pekoe, we'll be down in a minute."

The sound of her moving away receded, as Darjeeling properly stirred next to him, "Darling, I don't suppose you mind shifting off my arm, I can't feel it."

"Are you calling me fat?"

"Oh God give me a break woman, I've been awake for less than 5 minutes and you're already manipulating me."

Darjeeling chuckled and shifted so he could rescue his arm, which was completely dead and just rested on the pillow. She then curled up against him again,

"Can't we – **Yawn** \- stay here for a bit longer."

"I'm sorry who are you and what have you done with Darjeeling?"

She just buried her face in his chest, "I'm tired, and it's all your fault."

"I believe it's called mutually assured destruction, and you started it."

"Did not."

"Did too."

They both shared a chuckle as they lay there for a few more minutes in the quiet before Henry gently extracted himself from her grip and wandered over to the shower. The hot water hitting his face chased away any remains of sleep. His dried himself off with a clean towel, laying out a clean one for Darjeeling as well, pulled on a clean pair of boxers then he wandered back into his room, where Darjeeling was just sitting up with the duvet pulled up to her chest.

"Come on sleeping beauty, breakfast will get cold." Henry pulled on his uniform black trousers and his white shirt that he wore underneath his red jacket.

"Don't wait for me, I'll be down in a jiffy" Darjeeling yawned out.

"Alright, whatever you say, just don't blame me if all the bacon is gone" he winked at her then turned and left the room, closing the door quietly behind him. Making his way downstairs, he was greeted in the kitchen by two very different sights. Arthur, Tim, and Pekoe were sat at the table looking perky and fairly cheerful, happily chomping on whatever food they were eating, whereas the others were looking absolutely dismal. Assam was lying on the floor face down with Richard giving her a back rub and emitting small groans of pain as he rubbed his hands over a particularly tense spot, Rosehip and Richie were slumped down in chairs, Rosehip leaning her head on Richie's shoulder, with her mouth open, emitting small cat-like sounds as she napped, whilst he had his head down on the table, having narrowly missed faceplanting into his breakfast.

"You ok down there?" Henry enquired of Assam, who stuck her thumb up in the air before dropping it back down and emitting another groan.

"Ended up sleeping on the couch doing some final work on the BC match, we better make sure we win or she will one hundred percent murder me this time." Another thumb was stuck up in the air, making Henry chuckle as he rubbed Rosehip on the head, startling her awake with an "EH?!", before scowling at Henry's smiling face.

"Sir Henryyyyyy, it's rude to wake people up like that, Miss Darjeeling always said so."

"I need my driver alive Rosehip, stop encouraging him to nap."

"Finneeeeeeee." Rosehip moaned out, before poking Richie in the side. "Oi stupid, get up." Richie grunted in surprise, the usually quiet and dignified driver looked shell-shocked as he jolted upwards, knocking Rosehip off her chair which caused another bout of laughter to emerge from Henry, as the three actual functioning humans in the kitchen quietly smirked.

"Good morning you three, glad to see some of us are bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning." Henry busied himself pouring two cups of English breakfast tea, he added some milk and sugar to his, but none to Darjeeling's knowing she liked it plain in the morning.

"Good morning to you too Sir, will Miss Darjeeling be joining us for breakfast?" inquired Tim, the ever-faithful batman.

"No, I think I'll take some up for her, she's probably fallen asleep again." Henry chuckled

"Late night ehy?" Arthur winked at him and nudged Pekoe in the side, who politely giggled at his joke.

"Something like that. Don't worry Arthur, if I can do it so can you."

"Now that was uncalled for."

"What? I was complimenting you. You just need to put yourself out there, you know. I'm sure one of the girls will take a fancy."

Arthur flushed and turned back to his breakfast, as Henry chuckled, ' _Ah if this keeps up it's going to be a wonderful match'._ Humming _the British Grenadiers_ to himself he loaded up two plates with eggs, sausages, bacon, hash browns and baked beans. Popped 4 slices of bread in the toaster and waited for them to pop up. The toaster popped with a ding as he took a small sip from his tea, the warm liquid breathing some energy into his veins, as he lightly buttered the toast and set two pairs on cutlery on the plates, then balancing both plates and mugs he made his way back through the kitchen and living area where Assam was now returning the favour to Richard and took the stairs back to his room opening the door gently with his foot.

"Breakfast is served!" Darjeeling's mess of hair emerged from the blanket and duvet fortress she had made for herself in his bed.

"Oh my, you do know how to treat a lady."

"Well contrary to your belief that I simply a rogue, I can be a gentleman as well."

"One can be a charming rogue and still polite, which is what you are."

"I'll take that as a compliment." Henry set both plates down on his desk along with the two cups of tea, "Come on slow poke, out of bed." He heard a rustling of bed sheets as he finished setting up breakfast, Darjeeling lay her head on his shoulder clad in her fluffy white dressing gown, which had migrated over to Henry's house over the course of the last few weeks.

"Mhm, smells good. Who cooked?"

"Tim and Pekoe, as usual, an excellent pair and I take full credit for setting them up together."

"Of course you do." She planted a kiss on his cheek, then pulled one of his chairs out and sat down in front of the desk, he did the same. Eating their breakfast in silence, Henry dwelt on the plan of the day to come, the match was due to start at 10am and it was 7:30am now, so they had to get the tanks off the carrier pretty soon and onto the grounds. The match was actually taking place in Ooarai, who had kindly volunteered to host the friendly between the two schools. Ooarai was one of the few schools that did not have a male sensha-do team as they could not afford two and that the majority of their students were still girls.

"Hey Darling? You're friends with Ooarai team Captain aren't you?"

"Oh, dear Miho? Yes I am."

"What's she like? She must be quite formidable given what Ooarai have done in the last year and a half."

Darjeeling took a thoughtful sip of her tea, "Well…she's quite shy outside of her tank, but she's a fine commander and has a kind soul, I can get you a meeting if you want." She smirked at him.

"I might take you up on that. Hey maybe one of the Ooarai girls will take a fancy to Arthur!". They both shared a laugh.

 **Fields of Ooarai – Thirty minutes before the start of the match**

The St Gloriana tanks made for an intimidating sight as they were all lined up on the ridge just outside Ooarai. The various crews were discussing battle plans, making last minute checks on their tanks whilst the Commanders were milling around the Comet, where Henry was showing them a map of the terrain and how their plan would change around it. The sound of a Riley Nine Falcon broke through the cacophony of voices and engineering sounds. Henry paused in his briefing as the car, driven by Assam, pulled up next to the tank. Darjeeling emerged from the back, followed by two girls in the green and white of Ooarai. One, stood tall and graceful, with striking grey eyes and long flowing black hair, whilst the other was smaller, with short cropped light brown hair and hazelnut eyes. Both had smiles on their faces as Darjeeling led them over to the Comet.

The other Commanders scattered at their approach, Henry and his crew watched with curious eyes as the girls came to stop next to them, jumping down Henry smirked at Darjeeling,

"Come on then Darling, introduce us!" The brown-haired girl looked up sharply, turning her head between him and Darjeeling, before making an O with her mouth, then quick shutting it again.

"Girls, this scandalous example of a man is Henry Fordwaith the Commander of the St Gloriana male team."

"Nice to meet you, I am Hana Isuzu" the taller girl bowed her head respectfully.

"And I'm Miho Nishizumi." The shorter girl also bowed her head.

"Ah the famous Miho of Ooarai, we've heard a lot about you! A pleasure to make your acquaintance ladies, let me introduce my crew."

Miho flushed red in embarrassment, whilst Hana simply smiled, "This lot of delinquents are Timothy Perkins our radio operator" Tim waved from his position on the top of tank "Richard Warrington, our driver." Richard flashed a grin at the two, "and those two imbeciles are Richard and Arthur Price, our gunner and loader respectively" Richard gave a salute to the two, whilst Arthur was staring dumbfounded at Hana, who blushed and looked down at the ground until his brother slapped him over the head and he shook himself out of his and abashedly rubbed the back of his head before also giving them a smile.

"We wish you the best of luck in the match today!" Miho said, "We've never seen any of the male teams in action before."

"Well we will strive to put on a good show." Henry winked

"Well we'll leave you to it then." Darjeeling gave Henry a kiss on the cheek and whispered to him "Do not lose, I don't think I'll be able to stand Marie's superiority complex if you do."

He chuckled, "Not to worry Darling, we won't lose." She smiled and turned away, the two Ooarai girls following her back into the car, where Assam blew a kiss to Richard who returned it, before driving off.

 **"MATCH STARTS IN FIVE MINUTES"**

"I suppose we best get ready for the opening ceremony, Tim prepare the drinks whilst we do the formality's"

"Yes Sir!"

As it was a friendly match, the two teams were not too far away from each other, so Henry and the rest of the Commanders walked down towards the middle of the ground, where they would exchange greetings and the traditional bow with the opposing side.

The Commanders were all arrayed in their red coats and made a splendid sight as they lined up behind Henry, the sun gleaming off polished belt buckles and boots. The four judges were already there waiting. Bowing in greeting to the head judge, Oorai's advisor, Ami Chono, who towered over the others, Henry patiently stood at ease with his hands clasped behind his back, waiting for his opposition to emerge.

Eventually cresting the hill came BC Freedoms commanders, quite a few looked a bit worse for wear, as they advanced being who Henry could only assume was Philip "Augustus" D'hauve. The man wore an arrogant sneer on his face, as his blue and gold clad teammates lined up opposite the St Gloriana men. The BC uniform consisted of white trousers, black boots, a gold lined blue jacket with a short cape thrown over the side of the right shoulder, which was laced with golden epaulettes as well as a Blue cap with the BC freedom logo on the front.

"So, you're Henry Fordwaith, I was expecting someone more refined." Philip spoke up haughtily.

"Sorry to disappoint you but refined or not you'll always come behind me." Henry spoke neutrally.

Philip's face contorted in anger, ' _Clearly easily wound up'_ Henry though ' _Arrogant and proud, not traits you want for this sort of thing, but he's not necessarily stupid'_

Ami Chono coughed, "All teams, I expect a good clean match today! Bow!"

Henry and the St Gloriana team bowed towards their opponents, whilst only half the BC team did, Philip not included.

"I don't bow to those beneath me." With a haughty huff he turned, and his team followed him back up the hill.

Henry cocked his eyebrow and laughed, turning to his commanders "Well lads, let's take this puffed up Frog down a few ticks shall we?"

The gathered men all gave a resounding "Aye!" in response as they turned back around to their own lines, Tim was ready with a large tray with held small glasses filled with sherry that the federation had long since given up trying to confiscate from them. Each commander took a glass, awaiting Henry who picked is own up and swirled the sherry in the glass around before raising it high "Gentlemen, I give you todays fox."

They all repeated "Todays fox!" and all of them then simultaneously drained their glasses, placing them back on the tray with a clink, before splitting off to their respective tanks.

"How was it Sir?" Tim enquired as they made their way to the Comet, where Richie was waiting patiently to start the engine.

"He was damn rude and arrogant, and now I doubly want to win just for that fact."

"Don't worry Sir, we've all got faith in you!"

"Thank you Tim."

Mounting the tank, Henry let Tim get in first, so he could secure the plate and drinking glasses back in their cases, then slipping into the Commanders chair he flipped on his throat mic.

"All crews this is Duke, you all know the plan. I'll keep it short and simple, we're going to take that smug frog's arrogance and shove it right down his pipe hole. Let's show them what St Gloriana can do!"

"Plus you've got your Lady watching." Matthew Davenport cheekily replied accompanied by various chuckles from other commanders.

"Thank you Davenport, that'll be all." Henry chuckled to himself, the team was quite comfortable with boundaries and worked organically together unlike some teams which were broken apart by internal rivalries.

 **"MATCH START"**

The flare rose above the field and crackled as it exploded, "All crews, full advance."

The echoing roar of the combined engines rose up through the Ooarai fields as the St Gloriana team pushed forwards into a match that would prove to one of their hardest yet.


	7. Chapter 7

The air in the hospital bedroom was stale, the electrical fan whirring in the background did nothing to help the bitterness that penetrated the atmosphere of the room. The heart monitor punctured the deafening silence with the occasional beep to show that the occupant of the bed was still in the land of the living. Occasionally, just occasionally, a tear would slip off the watcher's chin and splash on the floor, she'd run out of tears to continue constantly sobbing a long time ago. Sat with her lover's hand clasped between her own, Darjeeling watched Henry's chest rise and fall ever so faintly, a far cry from how he was a few days ago in the morning before the match against BC Freedom. Her eyes were red and rimmed with dark circles, having barely slept since the incident. Miho had been with her for a while, but she had to leave to talk to her team and call her sister, that was a few hours ago, since then Darjeeling had been at Henry's side alone, except for the occasional nurse coming in to check up on his condition. She knew that the rest of the team were worried sick, especially his crewmates who were also guilt-ridden about the accident. Assam and Pekoe had to restrain her earlier from slapping the leader of the BC men's team for his blatant disregard of safety and common decency on the field, the man had been perfectly willing to accept the hit as well, which just infuriated her more.

Half of Henry's face was swathed in bandages, hidden beneath the sheets she knew that his right leg was held in a splint, and he had a back brace on his lower spine to protect it, just in case. The Doctors said he would recover just fine, but it was just a matter of when he would wake up and that was out of even the best of doctors control. Darjeeling sighed softly, thinking back to the match that ended in tears.

 **Two days prior**

Darjeeling sipped her tea as she relaxed in her chair, Pekoe next to her sat with her hands in her lap, anxiously watching the big screen. Assam and Rosehip reclined next to each other on the bonnet of the car, enjoying the sunny day as Miho and the rest of Anglerfish team chatted nearby.

"Soooo, Miporin and Hana what were they like?" Saori's chipper voice piped up, reaching Darjeeling's ears as she smiled, knowing exactly what sort of grilling the two girls would be getting from their boy obsessed friend.

"Yes Miss Nishizumi, what were the tanks like?" spoke up the ever-energetic tank obsessed Yukari.

Saori sighed, "I don't mean the tanks Yukari."

"Then what do you mean?" as all four of her friends gave her incredulous looks

"Oh, you mean the…the boys?"

"I think they would much prefer to be called men, despite their behaviour at times." Darjeeling interjected, smiling at the Ooarai girls.

Yukari blushed, "S-sorry."

"Well, don't leave me waiting!" Saori demanded of her friends

"Well, they were very pleasant…" Miho began

"But are any of them single!"

Darjeeling politely giggled, "Only one of the command tank is single, and I think he had eyes for your gunner here. The others are all taken."

"Oh" Saori looked dejected "Of course Hana gets all the fun! and those girls are so lucky…"

Darjeeling and Pekoe shared a chuckle, "Yes I'd say we are."

Saori stammered "O-oh, sorry I didn't realise."

Darjeeling waved away her apology, "It's fine, how would you know. It's not common knowledge that I'm with Henry, we only got together a few weeks ago."

"Yes, after driving the rest of us mad for three years." Assam piped up from the car

"Tsk details. Pekoe here is with Tim, Assam with Richard and Rosehip with Richie."

 **"MATCH START"**

The start of the match stopped the conversation as all eyes were drawn to the big screen, the St Gloriana tanks moved forward and split into three groups as Darjeeling knew they would. The BC team did exactly what Assam said and send out their light H39s as scout tanks as their main battle line rumbled forward at a snail's pace. On the other side of the field, the anti-tank group accompanied by the 4 Valentines advanced directly ahead, whilst two Cromwells split to the right and the Comet and other two Cromwells went left, Henry's Comet was not the flag tank this time around, that honour was granted to the 3 Inch Gun Carrier, to try and lure the BC team to attack them.

"The whole art of war consists of guessing at what is on the other side of the hill"

"Wellington?" Pekoe enquired

"Quite, it's a clever ploy our boys are trying to pull off, but that hill could be the undoing of them."

The Battleground was different from the time the Girls fought Ooarai here, this area was grassier, and in the middle of the field was a very large hill, which both teams were advancing towards. The H39s were already making quick progress towards the ridgeline in comparison to the main St Gloriana force, who were trundling along at the speed of the 3 Inch.

"They aren't going to make it." Pekoe said, whilst Darjeeling merely took a sip of her tea.

"Henry will have a plan."

The H39s had made it to the ridgeline and had spotted the St Gloriana advance, beginning to open fire with their 37mm SA 18s, their fire wouldn't do any damage to the St Gloriana tanks, but it would be enough to alert the rest of BC to their location as well as keep the enemy pinned.

The Anti-Tank group halted and began to return fire, the roar of the 3 Inch's 76mm much louder than the H39, who pulled behind the ridgeline slightly to avoid being knocked out by the Valentines.

Meanwhile, the main battle line of BC Freedom was making their way forward, the B1s were just pushing up their side of the hill, whilst the ARLs waited at the bottom. The camera on the main screen switched to the Comet and the accompanying Cromwells as they crossed a bridge, which placed them just behind the BC line.

A H39 tried poking its turret over the ridgeline and instantly took a shot from one of the Avengers below, knocking it out of the game.

 **"FIRST BLOW, ST GLORIANA, HOTCHKISS 39 ELIMINATED."**

The B1s now had started to push over the ridgeline and move down towards the waiting St Gloriana line, who started to slowly reverse as they began taking shots from the B1s double cannons. The Valentines moved themselves in front of the Avengers and 3-Inch, soaking up some shots that would have otherwise damaged the Anti-tank squad. One Valentine got detracked, then instantly peppered by all of the BC tanks, obliterating it and causing the white flag to pop

 **"ONE VALENTINE ELIMINATED."**

By now the B1s had made their way down the hill, the H39s sped ahead of the advancing line, firing on the move as the outnumbered St Gloriana line desperately tried to put out more shots. The ARL's had also made their way up to the top of the hill, beginning to add their cannons to the bombardment, another Valentine went down, the announcer was about to call it out when one of the ARL's took a shot to the flank, causing its engine to give out and the white flag to pop.

 **"ONE VALENTINE AND ONE ARL-44 ELIMINATED."**

The Camera flashed over to the other side of the hill where the Comet sat with a smoking barrel, the four Cromwells sped along from both sides to relieve pressure off the beleaguered main battle line. The BC flag tank, the Commanders ARL, turned to face the Comet, whilst the others tried to stop the Cromwell attack when one Cromwell veered off and made its way up towards the flag tank.

"There goes Davenport, this match is as good as won." Darjeeling finished her tea, holding out the cup for Pekoe to refill.

Miho looked across to her, "How so?"

"Henry's crew in the Comet are the best on the team, and Davenports are next, the French commander may be good, but he can't take on both of our best at the same time." Pekoe refilled the cup as Darjeeling nodded in thanks.

Back on the main screen, the fight had intensified, the Avengers had started to wreak havoc on the H39s as they attempted to flank, knocking them all out. The B1s started to panic, having lost their screen and with their backs exposed to the remaining three Cromwells. The other ARLs were clearly unsure what to do, either stay with their commander or go to help their comrades who were caught in the trap below. The Comet avoided a shot from the flag tank and began its charge, speeding along the ridge peppering the ARL with machine gun fire as it went.

"Tim does love to use that machine gun doesn't he Pekoe."

"Well he has told me he tends to get bored when he's not on the radio, so I can't blame him really." Pekoe let out a small giggle.

Back on the field, one of the ARLs had decided to engage Davenport, forcing him to swerve off his intended target. The Comet was now on its own against the opposing flag tank, but the two were equally matched. As the range closed, the Comet started to open fire with its main gun as well, trading shots and ricochets with the ARL. Down below, two of the B1s had been knocked out by the Cromwells, but an Avenger had taken a direct hit and was also down. The fight was getting close and the outcome balanced on a knife-edge.

Suddenly, Pekoe gasped as the camera returned to the duel between the two commanders. Henry had opened the turret hatch and was now standing up, they could see him shouting orders into his throat mic, as the Comet zipped nimbly around the ARL, balancing along the ridgeline. Then it happened.

The ARL accelerated forward, slamming into the Comet and then firing point blank. The Comet's white flag popped out but that was not enough as the ARL kept going and then the tank, which had been so dangerously balanced on the precipice of the ridge tumbled over the edge. The Camera zoomed in and the girls could see that Henry was slumped over the edge of the cupola, unconscious with blood streaming down his head, then he was launched out of the tank as it fell off the edge.

Time slowed as Darjeeling stood up, her teacup falling slowly to the ground as Henry ungracefully flew through the air, the Comet rolled down the hill ploughing a track through the grass and spraying dirt everywhere, Henry's red jacket was clear to everyone as his body rag-dolled down the hill following his tank. Darjeeling's cup shattered on the floor, spraying her polished black shoes with tea as she watched Henry bounce once more before coming to a halt at the foot of the hill.

The Comet had landed upside down, but that didn't stop the crew from forcing themselves out of the turret and running across to the fallen body of their commander, who was showing no signs of getting up.

Sirens blared across the field, signalling for the match to stop. Darjeeling stood agape, as Pekoe tugged on her arm. She was saying something, but Darjeeling couldn't hear, she only had eyes for the unmoving red dot that was Henry on the screen. Miho was there then, her hazelnut eyes the last thing Darjeeling saw as her vision slowly blackened and she fainted back onto her chair.

 **Present day**

Four bottles clinked together in a toast, "To the Commander." The four crew of Henry's Comet all took a long swig of their beer. Tim had a bandage wrapped around his forehead from a cut he had received when the tank tumbled down the hill, both Richards had escaped unscathed and Arthur had a bandage wrapped around his left hand where he had touched the hot gun breech as they fell.

They were sat in a small bar off Oorai's waterfront, pop music softly played out of the speaker by the bartender who was cleaning some glasses, aside from the four tankers the place was empty.

"What do we do now?" Tim asked the others.

"Not much we can do, except wait until he wakes up, other than that…let's get smashed." Richard took another swig of his beer.

"Aye, I'll drink to that" Arthur chuckled

Richie sighed, "Shots on me then lads." The normally stoic driver was quite shaken up by the events of previous days, they'd spent the day after the match in the hospital then decided they couldn't stand it anymore and went off in search of cheap drinks the day after.

Four rounds of shots later, one for each of the group they started rambling. Tim slumped onto Richard

"Oh, I could have stopped him, pulled him back in or something."

"Nonsense, you know once he puts his mind to something he won't stop for anything."

Arthur slammed his hand down on the table, startling the others "Moping about it won't do anything, Henry would want us to have fun, so in that case…. MORE DRINKS."

 **Oorai Streets**

Assam flicked off her phone, "Still nothing?"

Pekoe shook her head and took her phone away from her ear, "His phone is off."

"Idiots…." Rosehip kicked a lamppost, then yelped in pain.

"I'm sure they are fine." Came a voice from behind them, turning around the three Saint Gloriana girls, saw the four members of Anglerfish walking towards them.

"Miho came back from the hospital, she says that Henry has stabilised and now they are just waiting for him to wake up." Hana said as they came to a stop in front of them

"And what about Miss Darjeeling?" Pekoe asked them politely, hands clasped in front of her.

"She's….as well as you can expect, I think she needs her friends now."

Assam sighed, "We need to find our boyfriends, Darjeeling and Henry will murder us if they do anything stupid whilst he's under."

Mako spoke in her monotone voice "Well they are probably drinking, and I have an idea where."

The three other girls blinked at their friend in surprise, Assam looked at her "Well, lead on I suppose."

Making their way through the quiet streets of Ooarai the girls were attracted to a small bar just off the harbour, they could hear some singing which was utterly awful and slurred. Assam tsked "I have an idea who that might be."

Sat outside the now-closed bar, the four men of Henry's crew were clustered around a bench facing the ocean, as the girls approached them, Richard turned around and his eyes widened

"Oh God."

The other three turned as well, their eyes widening in fear

"Oh shit." Richie spat out as Rosehip gave him a glare

"Oh bugger." Tim watched Pekoe approach

"Actually you're buggered, I'm fine."

The three non-single ones turned on Arthur,

"You're in this together with us Arthur." Richard got him in a headlock

"Yeah you're not escaping." Tim grabbed onto his arm

"Look that girl you fancy is here as well." Richie took his other arm

Together the three of them pushed him towards the girls

"Take him, spare us!" Richard blurted out, as the three St Gloriana girls shoved Arthur aside, making him fall into the Ooarai girls, specifically Hana, she looked down at him, as he said

"Oh, has anyone ever told you that you have amazing eyes."

Whilst Arthur attempted to flirt with Hana, the others cowered on the bench as their mutual significant others advanced,

"Right I'm out." Riche attempted to make a run for it, but Rosehip wasn't having any of it sprinting after him she tackled him to the ground and started shouting at him "YOU'RE AN ABSOLUTE IDIOT, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW WORRIED I WAS."

Pekoe just took Tim by the hand and pulled him away, whilst Assam stopped in front of Richard, who awkward scratched his head "Errr hey."

She just stared at him for a moment, before pulling him up and planting a kiss on his lips, "I'm just glad you're ok."

 **The Hospital**

Darjeeling's phone buzzed, flipping it open she saw a text from Assam

 _We found them, no worse for wear. We're taking them home now, make sure you sleep x_

She smiled sadly, _'No, I don't think I'll be getting any sleep tonight…'_


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Hello everyone!, I'm terribly sorry for the long wait for this one. I've been really busy in regards to finally finishing Uni and applying for various jobs, and I hit a terrible case of writer's block, so this took a long time to write, but I think I'm back into it again. I hope you all enjoy this more than I enjoyed writing it! :P**

"No change today?"

"Not a peep, still stable though which is good."

"Well at least that girl finally allowed herself to be taken home. Poor thing."

"Yes, did you see her friend who took her? How on earth did she get that much hair into one bow."

"And that redhead, how anyone can be that energetic at that time in the morning I have no idea…"

The voices and footsteps faded away as the two Doctors left Henry's room. The beeping of the heart monitor the only indication of life. They had removed the bandages across his face, revealing a thin, long jagged scar running down his cheek. On the bedside locker was a multitude of cards from well-wishers, as well as a large flower arrangement from the Oorai girls. Kay and the Saunders team had visited the other day, as well as regular visits from the St Gloriana team. The BC Freedom commanders turned up one day, where Philip expressed his regrets at what had happened and how he was considering stepping down as Commander whilst Marie just looked on sadly.

The stillness in the room was broken by a slight twitch of Henry's right hand, almost as if he was trying to scratch himself, whilst on the outside it looked like Henry was peacefully lying there, inside his head there was a raging storm of emotions and memories.

 **"HENRY"**

 **"HENRY!"**

 **"** Multiple breakages…miracle he's still alive."

"Minor burns….gonna be some scarring on his face I imagine.."

The cacophony of voices continued ringing in his ears, person after person. First Darjeeling screaming in fear and crying; then Assam speaking sadly, Pekoe sobbing, Tim and the others downtrodden and glum. The sarcastic and arrogant tones of the BC commander. Time flowed slowly for Henry, his eyes felt like they had been glued shut as he heard voices moving all around him, unfamiliar deep tones followed by more concerned female ones.

"Have you slept today Darjeeling?"

"No, I can't….I….just keep seeing it happen…"

Suddenly he was back in his tank, slowly watching as the ARL crept forward. The gun barrel pointed directly at him as flame and smoke erupted from it and the shell thrust through the air towards him. All he could hear then was the panic in his crew's voices as they yelled, he could feel Tim trying to tug him back down, then a loud bang accompanied by a blinding flash and he was standing on what seemed to be a cloud.

He seemed to be alone, as he looked down and patted himself.

"All here? Good good…. Hello? Is anyone there?"

His voice echoed across the empty space, as he scratched his head in confusion. "Where on Earth am I?"

 _"You need to wake up."_ A light voice echoed through his head

"What? Am I dead?"

 _"Wake up…."_

"I can't!"

 _"You have too….."_ then he was falling, faster and faster, yelling as the green Earth grew closer and closer. He closed his eyes waiting for the inevitable impact then…..

Nothing, he blinked once, twice. Then Light.

The bright hospital light glared down at his unused eyes, he blinked rapidly again as tears started forming. His right leg felt stiff and ungainly as he looked around at his surroundings. He coughed loudly coming out hoarse and rough, there was a sound of quickly walking feet as a nurse burst through the door to see him sitting up in bed, blue eyes flicking to her as she walked in.

"Oh Mr Fordwaith, you're awake at last!" She bustled over to his side, her brown eyes checking the monitors he was hooked up to.

Henry coughed again, "How long was I out for?" She poured him some water from a jug that was on the side and handed him a cup which he gratefully drank from, gulping down the fresh liquid like there was no tomorrow.

"About six days, your team has been very worried about you." She checked his temperature and blood pressure as he processed that information. "There was a young lady who was sat with you for most of the time, she refused to let anyone take her away until yesterday, poor thing was besides herself."

"Platinum blonde hair? Blue eyes?"

"Yes that's right" The nurse finished up her checks "Well all seems to well and good, I'll go and inform the doctor that you are awake and performing fine and we'll see about getting you discharged." She gave him a smile

"Thank you." He smiled back, before resting his head against the pillow, his thoughts drifting off to Darjeeling.

 _'She waited for me to wake up for five days? God, what did I do to deserve her?'_

He chuckled to himself, thinking about what he would do when he got out of hospital when the doctor walked through the door.

"Ah, young Henry, the nurse told me you were awake and she gave me your readings. You seem to be functioning perfectly well, but I'll explain what we had to do whilst you were out."

The Doctor reeled off a list of things and minor operations that the surgeons had to perform on Henry after the accident, Henry winced as he heard, two broken ribs, a broken leg, minor burning along his left arm and a large cut across his face that had to be glued back together, rather than stitched.

"So, no tanks for me for a while then?" he chuckled as the Doctor smirked.

"Yes, no tanks for you until that cast comes off your leg and your ribs are fully healed, I don't want you un-doing all our hard work."

The next few hours were a blur of doctors and nurses coming in and out of his room, barely giving him time to think as they bustled around taking various readings and comparing notes. Someone had returned his phone to him so he could scroll through the various well wishers on his social media pages and text messages.

He flipped open the text messages and scrolled through his contacts until he found the one he wanted. His thumb hovered just over Darjeeling's name as he debated sending her a message, after a few moments of indecision he decided he'd rather reunite with her face to face. Instead he scrolled further down to Tim.

 _Hey squire, bring the rolls Royce around to the front for me will you?_

A minute later his phone began vibrating as Tim's icon popped up on screen, Henry pressed the green phone icon and answered the call

"Henry you're awake!"

"Yes, turns out that taking an ARL-44 shell point blank does wonders for my constitution."

Tim awkwardly chuckled through the phone "I'll get the others and we'll come get you! Saunders is here as well, they were coming into dock to re-fuel and stayed for a while. I'll tell the girls you're awake!"

"Actually, hold that thought, just bring the lads. No need to tell the girls just yet."

Tim tsked over the phone "You know she hates surprises and you'll probably end up with worse injuries."

"Oh, when did you become an expert on my love life Timothy?"

Tim was quiet for a moment, "Someone had to pick up the pieces."

Henry sobered up, "I see…come get me anyway, I'm tired of this hospital and Tim…. Thank you"

"I'll see you in about half an hour." There was a click and the line went dead.

As Tim's icon disappeared, Henry scrolled back up his contacts and pressed down on the call button next to Darjeeling's name. The phone rang once, then went straight to the automated voice

"The Person you are calling is currently unavailable, please leave a message after the beep."

 _Beep_ "Hey Darling, it's me." He coughed awkwardly "I've got so many things I want to say to you, but I'd rather save most of them for when we reunite. I'm just going to say sorry and I'll see you later…" with a sigh he ended the call.

Someone cleared their throat at the door and Henry turned to see the same nurse from earlier looking at him apologetically, "Sorry Mr Fordwaith, but we need to get you changed and into a chair. We've already sized you up for crutches as well, and for what it's worth, if that was the same girl who was sat with you this entire time, then you'll be alright."

Henry gave a terse smile as she started helping him get changed, in order to preserve his dignity, he chose to wear shorts, plus it looked like a nice day outside and it meant less finicking around with his cast, he also pulled on a bright yellow House Baratheon t-shirt and finally slipped on some socks and one trainer. The nurse helped him awkwardly slide into the wheelchair and then packed what belongings that had been brought to him such as the cards into a backpack that had also kindly been deposited in his room, probably by his crew.

The nurse wheeled him out of his room into the corridor where he was handed his pair of crutches by another nurse, then he was taken down the hall into a large waiting room.

"I can leave you here whilst you wait, unless you want me to stay with you until your friends turn up?"

"Thank you but no, I need some time to think."

"That's alright, you take care now. I don't want to see you back here anytime soon."

Henry chuckled, "No chance of that I think."

She smiled and walked away back down the hall they had emerged from. Henry shuffled his chair over into a corner and sat watching the entrance for his teammates. After what seemed to drag on for an eternity, when it reality it had only been fifteen minutes. Tim and the rest of the crew burst through the front door of the hospital, earning them a glare from the receptionist. It didn't take them long to zone in on him, the four crowding around him before deciding to jump him.

"Hey!" Henry yelped as Arthur rubbed his head

"You're a stupid bastard you know that don't you." Richard poked him in the nose

"Oh look at me I'm Henry Fordwaith, and don't worry about that tank right next to us I'm going to stick my head out of the turret." Arthur mussed up his hair

"That wasn't your brightest moment." Richie was content to merely mock him as Henry sat there scowling.

"Yes, yes good to see you lot as well, now get me out of this place."

Tim had simply being smiling to himself as the others harassed Henry, so he took charge of pushing him out of the hospital into the bright sunny day. It was late October so the cold still hadn't quite set in yet, but he could feel a chill on his legs.

"Where too Henry?"

Arthur muttered behind them "preferably the pub…"

Henry smacked Arthur on the arm "You have a problem."

"I have multiple problems, and alcohol solves all but one of them."

"Yes and that one is the alcohol."

Arthur merely huffed.

"To the girl's house please Tim, I have a mess to clean up."

"You can say that again." Richie cut in "You best not make it any messier."

Henry rolled his eyes to the heavens, "God help me, you've all turned against me."

Tim set off in the direction of the house that Darjeeling and the others shared. The Ark Royal was humming with activity as people went about their everyday business, some students from both Saunders and Oorai were wandering around, taking photos and generally enjoying their day off.

"I take it Kay is here?"

"Yeah she's up with the girls right now, Darjeeling took it pretty hard."

Henry frowned into the distance, "Yes I suppose she would…"

Tim smacked him gently on the back of the head "Stop moping around or I'll get Pekoe to beat some sense into you."

Henry shuddered dramatically "No please, she's a juggernaut, I only just got out of a coma."

"Then don't get all melodramatic, you're alive and well, that's all that matters."

They continued to walk in silence down a few streets away from the Ark Royal's hospital, until they reached the large house that housed the main members of the tea garden. Henry took a deep breath and ran his hand through his mop of hair, attempting to straighten it out.

"Dick, the door If you will." Richard shrugged and knocked on the door. A few minutes passed and Assam opened the door, her normally done up hair loose and flowing down to her hips. Her amethyst eyes blinked inquisitively at Richard.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are you here?" Richard simply stepped aside to reveal Henry in his wheelchair. Assam froze for a brief second her eyes darting back and forth between Richard and Henry.

"Yeah he's back." Henry gave Assam a small smile. Before she could open her mouth to respond, Rosehip came skidding into view.

"Assam what is it- oooooooooooooooooo." Rosehip gaped at Henry, her mouth open like a goldfish, before she retreated back the way she came.

"I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Henry asked Assam, who shrugged.

"Depends on how you handle this, it's good to see you again though."

"Thank you, Assam, can we come in?"

"No reason why not, I tell you one thing though."

"What?"

"I'd pay a lot of money to be a fly on that wall."

Henry scowled at her as the others burst into laughter, "Come on get inside already, I look weird enough as it is."

"I just didn't realise you had that much hair." Arthur quipped at her as they trooped into the house.

"With a mouth like that, it's not wonder you still don't have a girlfriend." She fired back.

"Ooof, I felt that one." Richie chuckled as Arthur stammered in shock.

Tim pushed Henry down into the girls still impeccable kitchen, where Pekoe and Kay where sat at the table, enjoying a cup of tea.

"Kay drinking tea? My God the world has changed whilst I was down."

Kay's eyes widened, "Henry Fordwaith you stupid son of a bitch."

Henry sighed, "Yeah I'm going to be hearing that a lot today aren't I?"

Kay put down the tea as Pekoe chuckled and waved at Henry. Standing up she launched herself at him and hugged him into her midriff, "You had me so worried."

"Sorry about that."

"It's not me you should be apologising to." Henry gently pried Kay's hands off him,

"Yeah I know, where is she?" In answer to his question, they all heard footsteps coming downstairs, "Pekoe, what's all the noise?"

The others started discreetly filing out of the room as Darjeeling's slipper clad feet came into view around the corner, before stopping as her eyes took in the scene before her, and then her empty tea cup crashed to the floor. Assam facepalmed,

"Really Darjeeling? Again?!"


	9. Update

Hi everyone, not a new chapter for which I'm really sorry. It is being written but well...

I've spent the last 3 weeks or so either coughing my guts up and sneezing constantly. Then recently my sinuses decided to give up, my glands swelled up, I've got extreme fatigue and I can't eat or sleep properly as well as having an on-off fever. So all in all, I'm not doing too hot at the moment.

Henry and the others will be back once I've recovered sufficiently enough that I can actually walk down some stairs without getting light headed due to the lack of energy in my body.

Thanks for your understanding


	10. Chapter 10

Silence often speaks a thousand words. As the rest of the group slowly shuffled out of the room, Assam stooping to scoop up the shattered tea cup, Henry's mind raced in an attempt to find the words he wanted to say. He could feel Darjeeling's intense stare scanning his face like an x-ray in the hospital, as he awkwardly shifted in his wheelchair with his eyes focused on the floor.

Her slipper clad feet silently drifted over the floor towards him as he still struggled to get his brain to connect with his tongue.

"Unlike you to be so quiet." Darjeeling softly spoke as she came close to him, just out of arms reach.

Henry shrugged, "I had a plan in my brain, but as you know-"

"The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry, yes." They shared a soft chuckle

"I am mad at you."

"I don't blame you, I watched a recording in the hospital. With the benefit of hindsight, that was not a good idea."

She wrapped her arms around her midriff, "Do you know how scared I was watching that? Seeing you fly out of that tank and bounce like a rubber toy?"

Henry finally looked up from the floor into her eyes, seeing them watering slightly. Never in all of his three years at the school had he seen Darjeeling cry, he didn't think it was possible.

"Hey look….I" he sighed "I've got a lot that I want to say to you…but I can't possibly begin to fathom how you felt watching me….but what I can understand is how I felt when I woke up and I was told you'd spent almost a week watching me…"

Her breath hitched slightly, clearly struggling to fight back the tears that threatened to spill down her cheeks at any moment.

"I don't quite know how to formulate what I'm trying to say properly but…Darling you mean an awful lot to me, and I'm so, so sorry for having to put you through what I did. I was an idiot and didn't think about anything but winning at that point. The turret viewpoint was clogged with mud and I couldn't see anything and I was worried we'd lose if I didn't see what was going on, I completely disregarded by own safety and that of my crew by opening that hatch."

Darjeeling was quiet for a moment, before bursting into the widest smile he'd ever seen on her face. "Well that'll do."

"That's your response?"

"No…" she quickly closed the gap between them and cupped his face, leaning down and capturing his lips with hers in a soft kiss, a gentle moving of lips that said everything between the two of them. Actions do speak louder than words after all.

There was a sudden shriek, accompanied by a cacophony of yelling and banging as the door to the kitchen burst open and Rosehip fell through, followed by the other girls whilst the lads looked on abashedly.

"You know they were there the whole time didn't you?" Henry smirked at Darjeeling

"Well, Assam does like her gossip…"

"I take offence to that statement…" came the muffled respond somewhere in the pile of bodies.

"All's well that ends well then skipper?" asked Richard with a smirk on his face.

"Well yes and no, I still can't get in a bloody tank." Henry shook his encased leg to emphasise the point.

"Give it time, you'll be out there in no time. Now I get to play nurse." Darjeeling smirked, this news was accompanied by a burst of laughter from everyone else in the room as Henry turned an extraordinary shade of white at the prospect of being nursed by his girlfriend. Someone who was quite notorious for being -extremely- eccentric when it came to that sort of thing.

 **Three days later**

 **The St Gloriana training field**

Henry peered through his binoculars down onto the training ground, the team was returning to training for the first time after the match, with the return of their Captain the male side was reinvigorated and returned to their tanks with an enthusiasm previously unseen. The incident had shook everyone up, and reminded them that they could always be better than what they currently are.

For today's exercise the men were splitting into half, the Anti-tank squad and half the Valentines were on the defensive, whilst the Comet, being temporarily led by Tim, and the Cromwells and other half of the Valentines were on the attack. The aim was for the defenders to survive for as long as possible.

What Henry wanted for the team to achieve from this was the ability to react to certain situations, in this case that of either A. Overwhelming fire from a dug in position or B. The charge of a superior force. He was sat on a chair on the platform of the Watch tower with his leg resting on a stool, on a small coffee table next to him sat a wireless radio, picking up comms from both sides.

The Male team was training on their own today, as the women were off participating in a small friendly match against Chi-Ha Tan. Considering the opponent, the school had decided just to ship the team and their tanks off to the match, so the men were left back on the Ark Royal kicking their feet. Henry had his phone open on the news website, watching the live reporting coming in, as bursts of chatter came from the radio. He was also accompanied by two of Assam's little group of wannabe spies, one male and one female, both of whom were also watching the tanks battle it out below and made notes in their small notebooks, often comparing them.

Matthew Davenport had command of the attacking team, facing him was Clarence Norton. Norton had dug in around a small hill, placing his three inch gun carrier in the centre and having the more manoeuvrable tanks surround him. The back of the hill was steep and covered in larger rocks which the tank treads of the Cromwells would not be able to climb, so that flank was secure. All in all it was a decent position, however, Davenport was known for being wily and hot headed and an all out push could overwhelm the defenders, though at a high cost for the attacking side.

Norton was certainly more defensive minded, hence why he was in command of the three inch gun carrier, it was the most un-manoeuvrable and vulnerable of all the St Gloriana tanks, which is why a good position is key for it to perform to the best of it's ability. The attacking side started making probing attacks, sending in their two Valentines. Henry watched this with a keen eye, the Valentines were certainly outclassed by the Cromwells and the Comet, so he could see why Davenport was using them to scout out the positions, however if they lost them this early on, that is two tanks less for the big push.

As the tanks were trading shots, a shell from one of the defending Avengers scored a direct hit on the hull of the Valentine, knocking it out. The remaining one reversed at a rapid speed, not wanting to share the fate of it's comrade. The attacking team obviously decided that was enough, and like hounds baying for the blood of the hunt, they swept forward in one big wave heading towards the tidal wall that was the stout defenders of the hill. Norton responded coolly, ensuring all the tanks had positioned themselves to face the charge. Davenports Cromwell led the way, indicated by the flapping crimson pennant, followed swiftly by Henry's own Comet.

Enthusiastic yelling and hooting came over the radio, forcing Henry to roll his eyes and turn the volume down as the two analysts next to him chuckled. The attackers were now shooting on the move, the only hit being caused by the Comet, as Richard managed to land a direct hit on one of the Avengers. The Defenders retaliated in kind, being dug in they were able to take their time and line up their shots, knocking down two of the advancing Cromwells and sending them skidding into the dirt.

Davenport began yelling orders into the radio and a heated exchange followed

 _"Split up damn it! You're like a flock of sheep being herded into a pen."_

 _"You were the one who decided to charge head on!"_ Percy Browning, the last remaining Cromwell alongside Davenport spat into the radio. _"Now they outnumber us!"._

The Comet fired again and took a Valentine down, Richie swerving quickly to avoid a returning shell from the three inch.

" _Sorry to interrupt, but do you mind focusing on the battle instead of arguing?"_ Tim's voice cut through the ruckus. Henry shook his head, his commanders all enjoyed butting heads and were so used to having him there to sort them out and control them on the field. Although if he was being honest with himself, he had the same problem when he was in play. Hot headedness was a common issue amongst the men of St Gloriana.

" _Bollocks, I'm down."_ Edward Langdon, the last remaining attacking Valentine reported across the radio.

" _Sod this, Full frontal charge now!."_

The remaining three attacking tanks pushed forwards, two Cromwells and a Comet versus a Three inch gun carrier, an avenger and a Valentine. The Avenger and Valentine both rotated their turrets to take out Davenport's Cromwell, his driver successfully avoided the first shell, but the second one hit him dead centre.

The other Cromwell swiftly followed, leaving just Henry's Comet. The Radio went dead as all the crews focused on the task at hand, as skilled as the Comet's crew were they couldn't take on all three remaining tanks head on, they managed to gun the tank straight through the defensive lines, skidding through the dirt and popping off a shot which collided with the three inch, causing it's white flag to pop out, but the momentum of the charge caused the Comet to wobble on it's axis before flipping over onto it's side leaving the defending team as the victors.

Henry sighed, _'I just can't leave them on their own, can I?'._ His leg couldn't heal quickly enough.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N - Hello again, I'm back! Been busy with some other stuff but here we are. Next chapter will have tanks in I swear! Thanks to everyone who's dropped a review and favourite, means a lot!**

The clashing of steel echoing around the St Gloriana parade ground in the early hours of the morning was not what the girls expected to be hearing when they arrived for training on one Saturday. Henry stood by the flag pole, supporting himself with a wooden cane, far more dignified than crutches, surrounded by the other crew members. At his feet was a neat pile of red jackets. On the Parade ground itself, the commanders, plus Arthur who was filling in for Henry, had paired off facing each other with training sabres. Designed the same way as their ceremonial weapons, just blunted metal instead of sharp.

Henry was flicking through a rule book as the Commanders hacked and slashed at each other. There were specific hit zones, effectively a t-shirt and short area and avoiding the head, anything above the joints was a hit. The various crews yelled shouts of encouragement at their commanders and friendly abuse at their opponents. Tim handed Henry a mug of tea from which steam billowed into the crisp autumn air. Taking a pensive sip in case he burnt his tongue on the freshly made beverage, he chuckled as the taste hit him.

"Really Tim? Out of all the teas you choose this one?"

"Well I thought it was apt, given the situation." Tim replied straight faced

Henry rolled his eyes and chuckled, taking another sip from the tea. Arthur was paired off against Russel Graham, a tall lad with blonde hair and blue eyes, one of the Valentine commanders. The pair were circling each other, Arthur preferring a more aggressive stance, with his right foot forward and his sabre held out in front of him, this confidence had made Russel uncertain, considering the fact that neither of the two men had much experience in sword fighting.

"You're a cheeky sod you know that Tim? Makes me wonder why I keep you around." Henry took a large gulp from the tea.

"Because Pekoe would murder you if you got rid of me?"

Henry grunted, "She is ridiculously strong for her size."

"Well you know Sir, loader."

"True, true." Henry chuckled.

"Gossiping about my crew members now?" Darjeeling materialised at Henry's left shoulder causing him to jump like a racoon caught in headlights.

"Christ Darling, you scared the living daylights out of me."

"That was the plan." She squeezed his arm, "What have you got your boys doing?"

"Eh get's the blood going in the early hours, plus gives the crews something to watch whilst we wait."

"Duelling though?"

"Well we carry around sabres, plus apparently the team used to it way back when, so I just pitched it to the board as a revival of tradition and they were all over it."

"You really have them wrapped around your little finger don't you?" Darjeeling stole his mug from him and took a sip, laughing as she tasted the tea, "Though clearly not as badly as I have you wrapped around mine."

"I am not wrapped around your little finger!"

Darjeeling just winked at him and kissed his cheek. A loud shout drew their attention back to the combat that was going on, Arthur had launched a heavy attack upon Russel, drawing shouts of encouragement from Russel's crew.

"Go on Sir!"

"Take down that upstart!"

"Clearly some of the crews aren't happy you put Arthur in." Darjeeling lent on his arm and whispered quietly to him

"Mhm, well social hierarchy and all that, but someone had to do it to even the fights out."

"Being pragmatic and breaking tradition? How unlike you."

"Oh, shush and give me my tea back."

Henry knew that duelling was a tradition generally reserved for the Officers, or rather in this case, the Commanders, but Arthur was eager to give it a shot and it's not like he could very well participate, -yet-, Arthur feinted to the right and then swiftly flicked a shot around to the left, past Russel's guard and striking him on the chest, ending the fight.

"Don't look now, but I believe one of the commanders has her eye on our dear loader." Richard muttered to Henry and the rest of the crew. Scanning the crowd, Henry's eyes landed on a brown, doe eyed girl with a long braid.

"Oh, dear Rukuriri, how interesting." Darjeeling's eyes lit up.

"I don't like it when you get that look in your eyes, what are you scheming now?"

"Nothing, nothing…now where is Assam…" was Darjeeling's absentminded reply as she wandered off in search of her gunner.

"Well, off she goes to plot again." Henry sighed, "Let's wrap this up chaps, our tanks aren't going to maintain themselves you know!"

"Easy for you to say, you don't do any of the work." Richard muttered, Henry just winked at him.

 **Later that day**

 **Henry's Office**

The door burst wide open with a crack as it slammed into the wall signalling the entrance of Darjeeling and crew. Henry jumped in his chair and quickly hid the files he was perusing through under a few of his books and held his hands in the air.

"Whatever it is, I am completely, one hundred percent, innocent."

Darjeeling strode up to his desk and put her hands down on it and leant over him,

"We're going out tonight."

Henry blinked, "We…are?"

"Yes, make sure Arthur comes."

"Just Arthur?" Henry was still confused.

"No bring the others as well of course you imbecile, but make sure Arthur especially turns up."

"Ok then, I guess we are going out tonight then. You are aware of course that I cannot dance?"

"Well makes no difference to when you have both legs in working order really."

"That was low."

"But true."

Henry scowled up at Darjeeling's innocent looking face, "You're a minx."

Stifled giggles came from the rest of the girls as Henry huffed,

"Fine, if we are going out tonight we're going to the Queens head."

"Spoons? Ooo that is a good idea." Rosehip bounced around excitedly, "They have those delicious pitchers."

Assam groaned, "She's going to be even more unbearable than usual tonight."

Pekoe just hid her smile behind her Palm at her comrade's dismay.

Darjeeling smirked, "You tell the others then, we'll leave you alone now." She leant down an pecked him on the lips before walking off, hips swaying as his eyes followed her out.

Shaking his head Henry pulled his phone out of his desk's draw, flipping the leather case open he keyed in his password and opened up whatsapp, moving to the group chat that he and the others had shaking his head at what Arthur had named it this time.

 _Comet club, no Cromwells allowed_

 _The Boss: Heads up chaps, I've received orders that we're going out tonight._

 _The Sullen one: We are?_

 _The Batman: Oh no._

 _The Idiot: Woooooooo_

 _The Sullen one: Oh God, Arthur and alcohol._

 _Assam's whipped one: Where we going Boss?_

 _The Boss: Queen's head._

 _The Batman: Oh that's not so bad then._

 _The Idiot: Hey Tim, I'll go 2 for 1 pitchers with you._

 _The Batman: Sure, but you can pick up my remains and tell Pekoe afterwards._

 _The Idiot: Not a problem._

 _Assam's whipped one: You say that now, but she gets bloody well protective of lil Timmy here when she's had a few._

 _The Boss: Yeah they are all coming out as well, who do you think gave me the marching orders._

 _The Idiot: Wait wait, are you whipped as well now? ALAS MY FRIENDS ARE LEAVING ME, I SHALL HAVE TO HOLD FUNERALS SOON._

 _The Idiot has changed the nickname of Henry Fordwaith to Darjeeling's Boy toy_

 _Darjeeling's Boy Toy: Oh har har, Arthur._

 _The Sullen One: Hey, at least we can all keep the interest of a female for longer than…oh what's the record…two days?_

 _The Idiot: I hate you._

 _The Batman: Yeah like that girl from Oorai, that didn't go anywhere._

 _The Idiot: Stop._

 _Darjeeling's boy toy: You brought this on yourself Arthur._

 _Assam's whipped one: So what time tonight boss?_

 _Darjeeling's boy toy: Oh, I'd say we have a few at ours around 8ish, then meet the girls at Spoons around 9:30 – 10?_

 _The Sullen one: Sounds good, I'll get some drinks._

 _The Batman: Think we have some left over from last time, but no harm in stocking up right?_

 _Darjeeling's boy toy: Timothy you are a man after my own heart._

 _The idiot: Well clearly, as you both have a thing for girls with French braids._

 _Darjeeling's boy toy: Shut up Arthur._

 _The Batman: Shut up Arthur._

 _Assam's whipped one: Sike._

 **Henry's house – 8pm**

"Port? Nice choice boss." Richard took a sip from the bottle of Port he had just opened

"I've even got some decent cheese somewhere in the fridge." Henry began searching through the various foodstuffs in the shared fridge.

"Oh…about that."

"What did you do Richie?"

"Wasn't me, it was Rosie…"

"Rosie? You call Rosehip Rosie now?" Arthur burst out laughing from his seat on the sofa.

"I hear jealousy literally seeping from your voice Arthur."

Henry rolled his eyes "That's alright Richie, just get your insane girlfriend to give me some cheese at some point."

Tim piped up from his chair, "You know I don't now how well Port will go down with Pitchers later…."

"Tactical vomiting dear Timothy." Arthur replied, taking a rather large swig from his bottle as Henry hobbled over with the assistance of his walking cane and swiped it from him.

Henry took a swig of the sweet drink, savouring the taste. "Ah that hit the spot.", Arthur snatched the bottle back.

 _"_ Get your own you freeloader."

"That -is- mine you sod." Henry retorted, whacking Arthur on the shin with his stick "Back in my day we didn't steal drinks from other people I'll have you know! Youth's these days."

The rest of the group burst into laughter at Henry's act as Richard pulled a bottle of Absinthe out of his cupboard.

"Brother you have been holding out on me." Arthur stared at the bottle in awe

"Now if you looked at a girl with the same eyes you'd have no problem whatsoever." Tim quipped.

"Nah I dunno, would that wipe out his personality?" Richie threw into the mix

Arthur glowered, "Clearly it's a bully Arthur day today."

"Well, it's not like you don't bring it on yourself old boy." Henry chuckled, "Now, pour us some shots Dick, let's get plastered."

"Just make sure you don't break your plaster boss." Richard nodded at his leg.

"Yes, Yes. Well I almost died once in the last month, I don't think Darling can top a tank basically crushing me."

"Ooof, too soon." Arthur winced.

"Sorry, sorry."

Richard rolled his eyes, and pulled five clean glass shot glasses, each engraved with the St Gloriana logo, from the cupboard. Pouring the emerald liquid into glasses, he handed them around the room.

"Alright, cheers then lads." The men all clinked their glasses together and threw their heads back and downed the obscenely strong drink in one gulp, to various results.

Tim started coughing, Henry and Richie just braved the burn and grimaced, Arthur chuckled, and Richard reached for the bottle to refill the glasses.

A few more shots later, and when some bottles of port which had been completely consumed by the insatiable thirst of the Comet crew, they decided that it was time to make their way to the pub.

Henry pulled out his phone with his left hand, quickly firing off a message to Darjeeling to let her know they were on their way, it buzzed almost immediately after with a reply. He smirked at the response and pocketed his phone. The Queen's head wasn't far away from where the lad's lived. As they approached the Victorian era style building, Henry was pleased to see the battle flag of St Gloriana flying from a flag post just above the main door, the wind picking up just a tad so the Union Flag in the corner was visible.

Arthur led the way, partially stumbling over the raised door frame as he pushed the door open. The crew made their way inside, greeted by the smell of beer and the noise of many happy St Gloriana students nattering away at respective tables. The Queen's head was deceptively small from the outside, it was two floors high, with tables aplenty, the upstairs part even had its own, smaller, bar as well.

"So where are the girls boss?" Richard asked, as he took his wallet out of his jeans pocket.

"Darjeeling said they had a booth upstairs, obviously trying to make life as difficult for me as possible." Henry chuckled, "Come on then, Tim give me a hand getting up there." The others made their way up the, not particularly stable, stairs as Tim helped Henry hobble up slowly. Reaching the top of the stairs, Henry rubbed his bad leg "God I can't wait to get back to normal."

"Missing the tanks Sir?"

"Funnily enough, yes."

The first floor of the Queen's head was half a pub drinking area, and half a dance floor with booths scattered along the wall and a DJ on the back wall. Henry performed a quick scan of the room, before locating the bright conglomerate of hair that was the girls. Leading his merry band of misfits over to them, he could pick out who was who in the semi darkness that lit the dance floor. Darjeeling peered at him over her shoulder and winked, taking a sip for her azure coloured drink, the liquid matching her eyes. She was wearing a plain white shirt, with two buttons undone and a bright crimson skirt which stood out amongst the otherwise fairly dark booth. Shuffling over, she patted the seat next to her as he carefully slid into the booth, leaning his walking cane against the wooden side.

Leaning over he greeted her with a quick peck on the lips, "You had to make it difficult for me didn't you?"

"Well hard work doesn't go unrewarded." She grinned at him, leaning in for another kiss.

The others slowly filtered into the booth as Henry pulled back from Darjeeling, he glanced around at the girls sitting around them, frowning slightly then flicking his eyes back to Darjeeling, who's eyes were filled with mirth.

"Oh I see what you're trying to do here" He whispered to her as he stole a sip from her drink ' _Hmm, Blue lagoon, nice choice Darling'_ he thought absently.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Hal, it's just a happy coincidence."

Sitting around the table was Pekoe, Assam, Rosehip and, the one that made him frown, Rukuriri who was fiddling with the end of her long braid awkwardly, occasionally throwing timid glances at Arthur who was chatting away happily with his brother and Assam. A disco ball above the dance floor reflected the flickering lights from the DJ booth, casting flashing light across the booth. Rosehip was eagerly downing another cup of her pitcher, whilst Riche looked fairly alarmed at the speed at which she was guzzling her drink.

Henry leaned over, "Oi Rosie!" Causing Rosehip to splutter and cough, while Richie patted her on the back.

"Sir Henry?!" Rosehip replied once she'd recovered from her comical choking.

"You owe me some cheese." He winked at her, as she awkwardly rubbed the back of her head with her free hand.

"Errr yes, sorry about that!" In her haste to respond she waved her arms around in such a fashion that could only be described as Rosehip and caught her boyfriend square in the nose, causing him to flinch backwards with an "Oooof." As his hand flew to his face in reaction.

Rosehip let out a squeak and turned to Richie, allowing Henry to snaffle the cup from her hand.

"Consider that payment for the cheese." He grinned at her, causing Pekoe to burst into uncontrollable giggles, and even Rukuriri laughed, easing some her original awkwardness.

Darjeeling leant into his side, snuggling up against him.

"Nicely done."

Henry just peered down at her innocently "Nothing to do with me."


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - Thanks again to those who are following this story and leaving reviews, glad everyone is enjoying it! I'm going to be graduating on tuesday, but I'm going to try and crack at least half a chapter out whilst I'm back at Uni. Hope you all enjoy this one!**

The tranquil autumn air was broken by the approaching sound of a Rolls-Royce meteor mark III V12 engine, stirring up the fallen leaves and leaving them swirling in it's wake. The Comet sped over the muddy and wet St Gloriana training area, it's suspension and speed allowing it to avoid being stuck down. Inside the tank itself, Henry was grinning to himself. He'd finally been given the green light to get back into his vehicle after his accident, this euphoria was shared by the rest of his crew, who were all sporting the same, shit eating, grin as they sped across the fields of the Ark Royal.

Tim was fiddling with the radio until he found the channel he wanted, filling the enclosed interior with music. A fast and cheerful guitar solo started up, fitting the shared mood in the tank perfectly as they crested a particularly steep drop, causing whoops of joy to emit from the crew.

Lounging in his commander's seat in a casual woollen jumper and jeans, Henry flicked Tim on the ear in jest causing the Operator to scowl at him and the others to laugh.

"So what excuse did we come up with this time to get out?"

"Oh something about a history essay or something." Arthur flippantly replied.

"But…I'm the only one who takes history?" Henry quizzed him.

"Well that's your problem then." The Loader cheekily replied and chewed on some gum.

"Come to think of it…. Shit I have a deadline in two weeks." Henry rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Been too caught up in a certain blonde eh?" Arthur threw back at him.

"To be fair, it was three years in the making, plus he was in a coma for a week, gotta give him some points." Richie piped up from the driver's seat.

"Enough about my love life. How about Arthur and a certain someone eh? We all saw them the other week."

"Aye yep, good catch brother, not as good as mine of course, but pretty up there." Richard nudged Arthur gently in the side.

Arthur, flustered by the attention, scrambled his defences. "I don't know what you're all talking about!" his voice squeaked out, before he clasped a hand over his mouth as the rest of the crew chuckled at his expense.

"Aw look, he's got it bad- WHOH" Richie jerked the Comet to the left, avoiding a shell that landed where they had been, exploding and showering the area with mud.

Henry facepalmed, "Arthur….you did check that the girl's weren't training today right?"

"Ehm….yes?"

"Arthur…."

"Yes I did look!" Arthur opened his phone and showed Henry the girl's training schedule.

"Alright fine fine, Darling must have organised a training without scheduling it, Tim open the radio, Arthur load a shell, Richard find where that came from. Richie keep us from getting shot."

"Aye Sir!" Came the resounding response and Henry grinned _'Oh how I had missed this'_

Tim tuned into the St Gloriana training station and began to pick up chatter from the other tanks on the field.

One voice came through – "Lady Darjeeling, unidentified tank on the field."

"What do you mean unidentified Cranberry?"

"Well, it's not a Matilda or a Crusader…."

Darjeeling's sigh was audible through the radio "Assam, please check with Richard where they are right now, don't worry Cranberry we'll handle it." The radio went silent.

"Uh oh."

"Alright, found the Crusader."

"Shell loaded!"

Henry smirked, "Well, they did fire first, take them out."

Richard smiled, "With pleasure Sir!" Taking a breath, he focused the scope on the Crusader that was hovering by the tree line, "On the way!" the shell casing bounced out of the Cannon breech as the Comet fired, hitting the Crusader dead on.

"Reloading!" Arthur quickly slammed another shell into the breech as the radio buzzed with life.

"Lady Darjeeling, we're down!"

"You're down?"

"Yes, the tank fired on us and we're out, apologies!"

Rosehip then intervened, "We'll take out this mystery tank! Don't worry!"

Henry sighed, "Tim, give me the mic." The Operator quietly handed Henry the microphone, as he pushed the transmit button.

"Hello Ladies."

"Hal? What on Earth are you doing out here?"

Richard's phone buzzed with a text message, then another as he glanced up to Henry, who just shook his head.

"Well we were enjoying a nice drive after lessons when we were shot at, don't suppose you know why you happen to be out here when the timetable is empty?"

"Well aren't you all meant to be doing a history project?"

"Darling, I am the only one who does history! You really shouldn't listen to Arthur"

"Well we weren't expecting anyone to be out here this afternoon, so I decided to host a session."

"Yes well some notice of that would've been bloody nice wouldn't have it!"

"Don't you dare lecture me! You with your stupid inability to control yourself when it comes to childish behaviour!"

Henry scowled, "Alright then Commander Darjeeling, we'll get out of your way. Might want to send a recovery truck for the Crusader."

"Wait Ha-"Henry put the radio down "Take us home please Richie."

The driver just nodded as the others in the tank looked hopelessly at Henry, who just sighed and put his head in his hands as the Comet revved up.

 **St Gloriana storage facility**

"Oi Richard, hand me the spanner." Arthur's hand popped out from under the Comet as his brother rummaged through the tool kit and slid said item across the floor to him.

Tim and Richie were tinkering with the Comet's electrics, attempting to get a better signal from the radio, whilst Henry was no where to be seen as Darjeeling carefully slipped through the ajar double steel doors into the hanger.

Richard threw a glance her way before nudging Arthur with his foot, as Tim and Richie ignored her and continued with their work.

"He's not here." Arthur's voice echoed from under the Comet.

"Where is he?" Darjeeling's voice was timider than usual, her sapphire eyes flickering from each of the crew.

"Well we dropped him off at home, he was in a right dark mood. Grabbed some beers and locked himself upstairs, so good luck." Richie deadpanned from the turret.

"Right, ok…Sorry…" Darjeeling slipped back out again.

"You know he's going to hate us for telling her where he is don't you?" Arthur rolled out from under the tank and sat up.

"Yeah well, it's better they get it all out of their system now. You know, as arguments go, it's not that bad."

The others all nodded their agreement and turned back to their respective jobs.

 **Henry's Room**

A couple of beer bottles held down the stacks of paper on Henry's desk as he clicked through his essay titles on his computer, none of them particularly stood out and he was hitting a brick wall with what he wanted to write. Pushing some of the empty bottles into his bin, and stacking some of the papers on his bed, he pulled a few of his books across to him and flipped them open, desperately scanning the contents for any ideas.

Reaching for a fresh bottle, he popped off the lid on his desk and took a sip. Desperadoes wasn't the best beer, but it was cheap and tasted nice so it fitted the situation.

The Golden liquid lifted his spirits as he took another swig as his phone buzzed urgently

 _Comet Club no Cromwells allowed_

 _Assam's Whipped one: Don't break anything_

 _Darjeelings boy toy: What do you mean?_

The chat went dead after that, leaving Henry rather confused until he heard steps coming up the stairs leading to the floor his room was on, sighing to himself he pulled himself out of his chair, beer bottle dangling from his fingers as he pulled his door open causing the person on the other side to fall forwards onto his chest.

"Hi…." Was Darjeeling's muffled greeting as she grabbed hold of him to steady herself. Henry felt a flash of irritation at the others for giving away his location but that disappeared as quickly as it came.

"Hey." She peeked up at him, there was no teasing or mocking in her eyes this time, just sincerity.

"Can…I come in?"

Henry's response was to simply just pull her through the door, closing to behind them. Mindful of the bottle in his hand, he carefully placed it back on his desk, then wrapped his arm around Darjeeling's waist. She opened her mouth to speak, but he put a finger on her lips.

"No, I'll start, I'm sorry." She pushed his hand aside,

"As am I, I lost my temper with you and…I shouldn't have as it was just a silly lack of communication."

"Wow, you sound just like Assam."

"Shut up." The two shared a chuckle, before moving closer until their lips made contact, Henry's arm reeling her in closer. The pair stayed like, quite content to simply gently move together. It wasn't heated, but comforting, that they were both there for the other.

Breaking apart for air, Darjeeling let out a breathless chuckle.

"So….what we learn from this is that communication is key?"

"I think that's the safest conclusion yeah."

"What do you mean the safest." Darjeeling narrowed her eyes at him dangerously.

"Oh nothing, nothing." Henry winked at her as she pouted.

"Hmpf." Was the response as she tugged him towards his bed….

 **Two hours later**

Henry, now just clad in pyjama bottoms, sat at his desk quietly typing away with his head cleared and essay title chosen, _Contemporary reactions to the Sack of Constantinople in 1204 and how they reflected attitudes towards the Orthodox-Catholic Schism._ The rest of the crew would find it boring, as would many, but he enjoyed his history something which he blamed his Father for.

The click click of his keyboard almost prevented him for hearing the soft knock on his door, which came again when he missed it the first time. Opening his door ever so slightly so he could peak out, he had to look down to see a embarrassed Pekoe.

"Sorry to disturb you Henry!" She almost squeaked out, "But we saw Miss Darjeeling hadn't come home, so we brought some of her things over." She held up a rucksack, which he took.

"Thanks Pekoe, she's asleep right now but I'm sure she'll be grateful. Thank the others for me." He gave her a genuine smile

"We're glad you made up, she was terribly upset."

"Yeah it was a silly thing to argue about, but you know we did spend three years arguing and making up, so we're pretty good at it now."

Pekoe giggled, "I'll tell the others, have a good night!"

"You too Pekoe."

Henry closed the door gently, hearing the latch softly click. Darjeeling was curled up in bed beneath the covers, her hair was undone and lay across the sheets. Henry put the rucksack down by the end of the bed and sat down on it, rustling the sheets slightly causing Darjeeling to stir.

"Hmmm Hal?" She sleepily enquired as he gently kissed her forehead making her crack open one eye.

"Have I ever told you that you have the most beautiful eyes."

"Hmpf, charmer. Did you have a reason to wake me up other than try to seduce me again?"

"I didn't think I had to try and seduce you anymore?"

"Don't push your luck." She smirked at him, "Now what was it?"

"Pekoe stopped by, dropped off some of your things."

"Oh she is such a good girl, probably why I keep her around."

"You know, I say the exact same thing about Tim."

"Surely just a happy coincidence?"

"Well maybe Lady Fate is laughing somewhere." Henry said with a poker face, before Darjeeling burst into giggles.

"Oh Hal you are so silly sometimes, and I mean that affectionately. Now, finish your essay and then get back over here."

Henry mock saluted her, "Yes Ma'am."


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N- Hi it's me again! Apologies for the delay on this one, but I've been extreamly busy preparing for various things in my real life, so this was once again put on the back burner. If anyone wants a scenario written, feel free to give me a prompt!**

Rain pelted down from the sky, hammering off the turret armour of the Comet I like the fire of a machine gun. A shell landed in a deep, muddy, puddle coating the side of the Comet as the crew of the Three-Inch gun carrier dashed back to the safety of it's heavily armoured interior.

A Cromwell returned fire, the burst of light briefly illuminating the grey, misty field. The Shell visible as is flew through the air and bounced off it's targets armour into a tree, shattering it and sending splinters flying. The Three-Inch's treds attempting desperately to escape their muddy prison, to no avail. Another shell, then another flew into the St Gloriana lines, scattering the tanks as they scrambled for safety. Then, silence, just the rain continuing to patter off the armour of the tanks.

"URRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAA." Came an ear shattering roar from the other side of the mist shrouded field, the sounds of multiple engines revving and accelerating could be heard, and once more the crack of cannon fire as indirect shelling flew over the heads of the tankers.

"Bloody hell." Arthur loaded another shell home, sweat prickling down his back despite the cold day.

"Duchess come in, I repeat come in. We've found them, all of them. Do you copy?" Henry was greeted with static from the radio.

"Blasted weather, best we can do it hope the sound of fire draws them in." Switching back to his local channel he contacted his tanks.

"All crews this is Duke, scatter and head for cover. Norton do your best but there isn't anything we can do for you. "

Norton's reply came crackling through, "Not to worry Sir! Just like the Scot Greys at Waterloo, foiled by some Mud." He gave a brief chuckle, "We'll hold them off, give them hell."

"All tanks, split into pairs and get out, avoid that charge if you can. Best of luck chaps, we'll rendezvous at…..the clearing just south here, Duke out."

Henry tapped Richie on the shoulder, "Get us out of here if you would driver." He got a nod in response as the Comet revved up, pulling into reverse. The Three-Inch Gun carrier rotated itself the best it could to face the oncoming charge, which was appearing out of the mist. Five Bt-7s lead the charge, 45mm cannons firing on the move. The Three Inch replied in turn, cracking out a shell and as it wasn't moving took the lead BT-7 dead on.

"Let's go Richie." With one last look towards the Three Inch that they were sacrificing, the remainder of the men of St Gloriana fled the scene, hotly pursued by the approaching attack.

A Cromwell pulled up behind the Comet, accompanying them on the retreat. "Cromwell come in over."

"Roger that Sir, Davenport here."

"Oh excellent, how about we have a bit of fun with these Russian's?"

"Sounds like a brilliant idea Sir."

Behind the two fleeing St Gloriana tanks, the remaining BT-7s had ignored the beleaguered Three Inch Gun Carrier, leaving it up to their bigger guns to finish off to chase after the Comet, being the St Gloriana flag tank.

"Alright Davenport, swing to the right, turn yourself around and come to a halt, they're focused on us."

"Acknowledged, pulling to the right now."

"Tim man the machine gun. Richard, line your shot up. Arthur load HE shells and Richie, slow yourself down just a smidge." The Crew swung into action, as the Turret moved to face the pursuing tanks, Tim let out a hail of machine gun fire, green tracers carving a way through the mist as he let out a laugh of exhilaration.

"Shot ready!" More machine gun fire careened across the field, actually catching a BT in a weak point and causing smoke to emit for it's engine.

"Good hit Tim!" The Stricken BT careened to the left, causing another one to swerve to avoid crashing. "Now Richard!"

"On the way!", the HE round flew and exploded just in front of the turning BT, throwing up a large amount of mud and water, effectively blinding the driver.

"Davenport, your turn." Henry spoke into his mic as Arthur quickly removed the last casing and slammed home another HE shell.

"Firing." Somewhere to the right of the Comet, a Cromwell's 75mm roared and took another BT in the side it's engine spluttering.

"Good kil-"Henry started to speak then a round buzzed past the Cromwell, "Oh Bugger me, that wasn't a BT." A T-45 85 emerged out of the mist, barrel smoking.

"Can't penetrate that armour from this angle Sir!" Davenport's voice urgently came through the radio.

"Understood Matt, get out of there."

The Comet began to slow as the mud in front got thicker and thicker,

"Shit." Came the curse from the driver as he battled with the tanks controls.

"Easy Richie." The Comet's gun flashed a response to the T34, just landing short. The tank in question put on the breaks as the Comet slowly struggled through the ever grasping mud, Henry watched in trepidation as the Turret aimed itself properly, staring down the barrel of it's main gun, he closed his eyes in defeat…..

Then the sound of another gun echoed across the mist, as the Churchill came barrelling out of the woods to the left of the T34, slamming into it's side and unleashing a shell into it's weak side turret armour.

Henry clicked on the radio, "Excellent timing, cutting it a bit fine though."

Darjeeling's voice fluttered over the comms, "Consider this payback for the match against Saunders."

Henry rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Yes yes, one all, shall we send the bears packing?"

"I quite agree, moving up to support now. Might want to reel in your scattered hounds."

"All tanks, Duke here. Duchess and the Ladies have arrived, return to my position for a counter offensive."

The BT tanks, sensing defeat scattered back the way they came.

Silence descended on the field again, as the St Gloriana tanks slowly made their way back into line. Henry flicked on the radio again. "Ok Duchess, best change here is to play our strengths, we charge and you form a firing line."

"Risky, they do outnumber us."

"They won't be expecting a counter charge, if you provide overwatch and confuse them, we can get in amongst them and start killing."

"Hmpf, alright we'll do it your way for once." Darjeeling began to relay orders to her commanders, the Churchill and Matilda's forming one line along with the Avengers. The Cromwells and Valentines formed a wedge shape behind the Comet.

"Why do I get the feeling we're about to participate in a mass purge of Pravda's team…" Arthur muttered to the others.

"A bit ironic considering they are based off the Soviet Union and all" Henry responded as he peered out his commanders viewing hatch

"What?"

"You know Stalin's purges and all that?"

He was met with silence from the rest of the crew,

"Uneducated Oiks."

"Nerd."

He rolled his eyes, before activating his throat mic again. "Ok Duchess, operation rolling fire please."

"Understood."

A brief moment of quiet, as no tanks moved just the quiet rumble of engines standing by and the light pitter patter of the rain that had slowed down in it's descent from the heavens. It was the quiet before the storm.

Then like a thunderstorm as it breaks, flashes of light and loud cracks burst from the St Gloriana battle line shattering the mist apart as a mixture of AP and HE shells flew threw the air.

Henry waited patiently, allowing the bombardment to continue for a while. The tanks were shooting blind into the mist, but given the tendency of Pravda to group up and charge in a horde, they were almost 100% guaranteed a hit or two.

Answering shells soon began to return across the field, flashes of light indicating the location of Pravda.

"The prey have been sniffed out gentlemen, let's hunt!" Henry tapped Richie on the shoulder once with his foot indicating the advance. The Comet surged forward, free of the entrapping mud, followed by the Cromwells and the slower Valentines.

"Wedge formation if you will chaps, Duchess keep the bombardment until we disappear from sight"

The following tanks split into a loose wedge, two of each tank on either side of the Comet as they flew through the mist. The sound of shelling ceased after a minute.

"Duke, this is Duchess. We have ceased shelling and are advancing afterwards….Leave some for us Hal" Darjeeling remarked over the radio.

Henry smirked, tuning the radio off and focusing on his Commanders view port. Pravda tanks suddenly loomed out of the mist and Henry let out a whoop, retuning the radio

"Prey found! Into them chaps!"

A series of accompanying laughs and cheers echoed through the tank as the strike force from St Gloriana opened fire, spreading out and causing chaos amongst the amassed Pravda force. A t34-85 attempted to challenge the Comet, but Richie aptly slid the tank around allowing Richard to get the shot off first.

"Good kill!" Henry yelled down into the compartment over the cacophony of battle. St Gloriana tanks mixed with Pravda tanks, explosions ringing and machine guns chattering as the close quarters combat intensified. Two BT-5s shot at the Comet, and two shells pinged off the turret's armour causing Henry to clutch his head as the vibrations caused an unbearable ringing sound.

One of the BTs then blew over as a Cromwell took it out with a well placed shot into the engine. The Cromwell then flew past the Comet and sprayed the other BT with machine gun fire, causing it to take off in the other direction.

The Radio chattered, but Henry couldn't make out what was coming through with the ringing in his head. He vaguely noticed Tim picking up the radio and replying, but still couldn't make out what was being said as the pain slowly ebbed away.

As Henry's head cleared, he peered out of the viewport. Spotting the Churchill and it's accompanying force clearing a path through the mass brawl that had broken out in the muddy field. Then a rather large shadow threw itself into the path of the Comet.

Henry stared down the barrel of the IS-2 for a brief second, then decided discretion was the better part of valour.

"Shit! Riche get us out of here-"The IS-2 fired and as luck would have it, just scraped the side of the Comet, the shell flying past and taking a Valentine in the side instead as Richie had automatically thrown the Comet to the side.

"Shit, Shit. Tim give me the radio quickly." The Operator handed Henry the radio.

"Duchess do you read?!"

"Go ahead Duke." Darjeeling's reply came clear over the battle that was raging around them.

"I need you to hunt their flag tank down now! They've put the IS-2 on me!"

"Understood Henry, stay alive."

"Richie, evasive action as best you can. Richard, try and find a damn weak spot in that thing. Arthur load Sabot rounds."

"We've only got 5 stocked boss!"

"Then make them bloody well count."

As the Comet engaged with a do or die duel with the IS-2, battle continue to rage around them. St Gloriana's initial surprise had worn off and Pravda were pushing back. Darjeeling's attack had pushed through a bit, but had been slowed down by the firepower Pravda could bring to bear.

Rosehip's Crusaders, having yet been unused then burst out of the tree line. Their small guns couldn't do much against the T34s on their own, but their target was the flag tank.

Henry however, was unaware of this new development. As the Comet's crew sweated with anticipation as they fired round after round into the IS-2. Neither tank could quite finish off the other, but for the Comet it was like they were throwing eggs at the IS-2, nothing was working.

Richie then made a mistake and attempted to slide around in the wrong direction, putting him directly in front of the IS-2's barrel.

"Well, this is it." The entire crew braced when suddenly a loudspeaker was heard

"ST GLORIANA WIN'S, PRAVADA'S FLAG TANK IS ELIMINATED"

The sounds of combat diminished as various tank crews heard the information. Henry slumped down in his commanders' seat and let out a long sigh, closing his eyes and leaning against the cool metal of the turret, blood pumping through his veins as the adrenaline surge slowly left him.

Seized by a brief momentary madness, his eyes flickered back open and he then threw open the turret hatch. Identifying the location of the Churchill, he leapt from the Comet. Ignoring the queries from his crew and made a dash for the Churchill. Clambering on the parked up tank, he heard Assam's tsk as he left muddy prints over the armour on the hull, before reaching the top of the turret where Darjeeling was just popping up to see who was walking all over her tank.

Without giving her chance to speak, Henry pulled her close by her shirt collar and kissed her hard to the whoops and cheers of the surrounding crews.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: I'm back! Thanks to everyone who has reivewed and followed thus far! Hope you enjoy :)**

Henry smirked in contentment over the rim of his glass, taking a sip from the deep red liquid that was housed in the glass. The sweet taste of port a welcome treat. The main St Gloriana ballroom was filled with tables and people as the suit clad men danced with the well-dressed women. The St Gloriana orchestra was playing on a raised dais. Rather different from the last victory party that Saunders had thrown, the St Gloriana parties tended to reflect those of high society long ago, classical music and ballroom dancing, accompanied by a full three course meal and various alcoholic beverages.

The chandelier above sparkled with light, casting it's illuminations across the hall, red curtains pulled back allowing the moon light through the large stained glass windows, throwing a myriad of colours into the room as well. At this point of the party, most of the tables had been pulled back to the side of the room, allowing for a large dance floor as the throng of tank crews danced and mingled around the room.

As the Pravda-St Gloriana match was the last of the friendlies to be held this season, the victor was the one granted the honour of hosting the final party. Thus, how members of all the other schools found themselves aboard the Ark Royal. Students from Oorai, Pravada, Saunders, Kuromarine, BC Freedom and others were all scatted amongst the more numerous St Gloriana students. Henry himself was leaning on one of the windowsills, clad in a navy blue suit, with a white shirt, bright blue tie and grey waistcoat. His eyes scanned the crowd, Darjeeling was chatting with Marie from BC Freedom, her scarlet red strapless dress drawing Henry's eye. He allowed himself to linger on her for a minute, and as he did she turned and caught his eye, winking at him, before turning back to her conversation.

Moving on from his girlfriend, Henry saw his crew leading their various significant others in a dance. Once again to his surprise and amusement, Pekoe and Tim were leading the dance showing the others how it was done and judging from Richie's pained face, Rosehip was just as graceful on the dance floor as she was on the battlefield. Assam and Richard flew around the floor like swans, both clearly just caught up in each other and the music and Arthur and Rukuriri looked at ease with other as they too swayed along with the music, bringing a happy smile to Henry's face, finally seeing his loader content with life.

"It's cute isn't it?" his thoughts were broken by Kay sliding next to him.

"Oh quite so yes." He took another sip of his wine.

"You've got a good lot here, you do know that right?" She took a gulp from her own drink, clearly -not- wine

"Did you sneak whiskey in?"

"Nooooooo, I wouldn't do that." She winked at him mischievously.

Henry chuckled, "To your point I would say yes, I am awake of how ridiculously lucky I've been here. I got a good crew, and a good bunch of friends as well as an -extremely- beautiful but irritating girlfriend as my co-commander."

He paused for a brief second, glancing over at Darjeeling, before back to Kay.

"Don't tell anyone I said that."

Kay's grin widened, "Can't have your reputation being ruined for showing feelings, right?"

"Something like that."

Kay giggled, before indicating the Pravda male captain out in the crowd,

"He's very good in bed."

Henry spluttered and almost choked on his drink.

"What?"

Kay snorted, clutching her sides as she laughed, "Oh you should see your face!"

"Are you serious or just joking?"

She wiped away a tear from her eye, "Oh I'm serious, but still your face!"

Henry grunted, his eyes tracking his Pravda contemporary. Ivan Vasil was unlike the stereotypes, slightly smaller than Henry, but taller than his female opposite. He was cold and calculating, not roaring and angry like Katyusha has proven to be in the past.

"So you two are dating then?"

"Nah not really, just an occasional fling. Like what we used to have back when we first started."

Henry's eyebrows raised in surprise, "I thought we agreed to not talk about that."

Kay shrugged "We've both moved on and are friends, I don't see an issue."

"Fair enough I guess, how'd it start?"

"Oh, we had a match, but it was his male team against our female. We drew as both our flag tanks popped at the same time, so we met up afterwards for a chat and a drink to discuss it and somehow ended back at my apartment." She winked at him "He's actually a massive teddy bear really."

Henry chuckled, "What is it with you girls and teddy bears. Miho from Ooorai is -Obsessed- with that one…. Boko is it?"

"Yeah that's the one! I think it's cute."

"Of course, you do."

A comfortable silence settled between the two as they watched the rest of the crowd. The band began to pick up a more jaunty tune and Henry observed Philippe from BC Freedom drag Marie along with him for a dance, leaving Darjeeling on her own.

"If you'll excuse me Kay, I've got a girlfriend to rescue."

"Oh of course, I'll go find my Russian bear."

"Please don't call him that when I'm near." Henry just got a smirk in response.

He weaved himself through the crowd, keeping an eye on Darjeeling's platinum hair so he didn't lose track of her. Henry avoided drunken students and dancers, before swerving around a very vigorous exchange between a Kuromarine girl and a Pravda male, and then reaching his target he curled an arm around her waist and twirled her around, eliciting a gasp from her, then a giggle.

"Hi there, having fun?"

"Oh, I was until you showed up." Darjeeling poked him in the side, planting a kiss on his cheek.

"Oh, my heart cannot bare the pain you cause me."

"Mhm, what heart?"

"Ouch."

Darjeeling looped her arms around Henry's neck as the two began swaying to the music.

"Your dress is very…. elegant." Henry spun Darjeeling around in a slow turn.

"Elegant?" The two stepped to the right.

"Well I was going with sexy, but it didn't really fit the situation."

Darjeeling grinned again, pushing up closer to him as they carefully maneuvered the dance floor, leaning her chin against his chest and looking up cheekily "Perhaps we could…. get lost?"

Henry chuckled "Dangerous minx." Glancing over his shoulder, he saw an open side door and taking her hand, he led her out of the main room into a side corridor.

As the sounds of chatter and music slowly faded away, Henry and Darjeeling came across one of St Gloriana's many gardens. The Air outside was pleasantly cool, making for a change from the hot and sweaty ball room.

Darjeeling closed her eyes as the fresh breeze swept over her skin "Ah, much better."

"And quieter too." Henry led her to one of the benches scattered around, brushing off a few leaves that had fallen from the tree above.

The two settled on the bench, Darjeeling leaning into Henry's side, resting her head on his shoulder grabbing hold of one of his hands. "You know we made little Katyusha very angry today."

"Oh yeah, was it because we trounced them?"

Darjeeling gently swatted his arm, "No it was because, and I quote 'We stole their tactics from them'."

"Ah charging en masse with great success? I mean, If you can call you and your girls advance a charge, more like a crawl."

"Hmpf, still pulled you out of the fire."

"It was a very small fire."

"That IS-2 staring down at you didn't look small to me."

"Ach, size isn't everything. It's how you use it."

Darjeeling glanced down, then back up at him.

"Not a word."

"I wasn't going to say anything." She batted her eyelashes at him.

"You enjoy it well enough."

"Mhm true."

She leant forward and caught his lips, enjoying a slow, sensual kiss as hands wandered.

 **Later**

Darjeeling straightened her dress as she and Henry walked back into the hall. Henry by all accounts looked fine, except for a smirk on his face as he looked at her causing her to shake her head.

As they re-entered the hall, they were instantly cornered by Kay.

"Well helloooo by two favourite Brits."

"Hello Kay, how are you?" Darjeeling enquired of her American counterpart.

"Fine thanks!" Kay's voice was slurred, "Lil Ivan's gone off to get me another drink."

"Are you sure that's wise?"

"Yeah! No problem with it!"

Ivan appeared at Kay's shoulders, holding out a cup which she eagerly grabbed and guzzled down it's contents.

"Water" Ivan mouthed at Henry and Darjeeling, who both nodded in understand.

Henry let go of Darjeeling's arm and offered Ivan his hand, "You fought well today."

"My thanks, it was an honour to engage in battle with you." Ivan shook the offered hand firmly, "A shame some of our competitors do share the same attitude."

"I know what you mean…but can't be helped sometimes."

Ivan was dressed in his dress uniform, unlike the girls of Pravda who were based off the Soviet Union, Ivan and his men were based off the White Tsarist forces from the civil war, clearly showing a stark divide between the two teams.

"Heeey this isn't alcohol." Kay dropped the cup on the floor.

"No it isn't, you've had far too much to drink already." Ivan turned to face the oncoming storm.

"Well we'll leave you too it." Henry nodded to Ivan and Kay before taking Darjeeling's arm once more.

"Are they together?"

"Kind of."

"Ah that sort of together."

"Indeed."

The two made their way over to where their friends had pushed together some tables and were lounging around in the chairs. Pekoe was feeding Tim some cocktail Sausages, Richard had his head in Assam's lap as she played with his hair, Richie and Rosehip were nowhere to be seen and Arthur and Rukuriri were wrapped up in each other.

"Ran out of energy then?"

Assam looked up and smiled at the two, "Dancing does take it out of you."

Henry pulled out a seat for Darjeeling, before dragging one over for himself. "Yes, that's why we went outside, for some fresh air."

Assam wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "Fresh air is a euphemism now?"

"No…."

"Sure, fresh air it was then."

Richard groaned, "Please, you're going to ruin breathing for me."

The group burst into laughter, chatting away until the early hours of the day as the music slowly died off and the sun rose across the sky, the bright beams of lighting once more shattering the colours off the stain glass, decorating the now almost empty ballroom once again with a rainbow of colours. Henry looked around at his friends, all of whom were slumped around the table in various positions.

"Guess we should go to bed now?"


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: Hi everyone! Sorry about the long wait, I hit a massive writers block and was swept up in a lot of stuff irl, so here we go. This chapter is a bit different to the others, things aren't always fun and games in life as I'm sure we're all aware. This builds on Henry's character a bit more, and introduces a new character who's not having the best of times. I'm currently writing up the Anzio chapter, so I hope to have that finished soon. Enjoy! A big thank you to everyone who has reviewed and followed, I hope I continue to live up to your expectations.**

Bells pealed across the Ark Royal, breaking apart the crisp stillness of the December morning. Darjeeling stirred in bed and reached across to the over side, only to find air. She huffed and cracked open an eye, blinking away sleep. Noticing a small scrap of paper where Henry had previously been lying.

 _Gone to Church, be back soon. Hal x_

Caught up in the events of the last few months, Darjeeling had completely forgotten that Henry still attended Mass, but not like the majority of the Church going students, who went to the larger Anglican Church in the main square. Henry attended a small chapel further down the road. She dropped the note back down and rolled over, closing her eyes for a well-deserved lie in.

 _Ark Royal main square_

Henry parted with Assam, Arthur and Richie at the main square as they made their way up the stone steps to the Anglican Church of St James. It always constantly surprised people that Arthur of all people was a practicing Christian, but weirder things had certainly happened. He turned to his one remaining companion, her red hair falling in an uncombed mess out of her hood. Rosehip blinked tiredly at Henry.

"Shall we get going then Rosehip?" The sleepy red head nodded her assent as the pair made their way down the street, away from the sizable crowd making its way up the steps to St James. They turned a corner, walking past the closed Queens head. The St Gloriana battle flag that flew from it's balcony fluttered in the breeze, almost in a salute as the two passed. Turning one more corner, they came across their destination. The Small Church that was the Catholic Parish on the Ship. Our Lady of the Assumption was quiet and unassuming. The only indication it was a place of worship was the small wooden cross, above the front door.

Henry smiled to himself, other than his bedroom, this was the one place where he could relax and be himself properly. Here he wasn't Henry Fordwaith, Captain of the St Gloriana. Here he was simply Hal, an often troubled soul who graced the door of the Catholic Church. He pushed the door open and held it out for Rosehip to pass into the Church first.

It had been a pleasant surprise when he'd found out the bubbly and overly energetic Redhead was a Catholic. She'd not know about the small Church on the corner, and only after some prodding by her teammates had she approached Henry, both for advice on Richie and help with her faith.

The majority of his teammates no longer went to Church, like so many of their generation either not believing at all, or simply not caring. Rosehip split off from him to say hello to their Parish Priest, an elderly Vietnamese man, named Father Louis, who'd been here for as long as anyone could remember. He was an avid supporter of the Senshado teams and was always at their matches when he could make it.

"Get out of the way idiot."

Henry whirled around as a male voice spoke from behind him, his eyes meeting an identical pair in the doorway, accompanied by a Fordwaith cheeky grin.

"Hey cousin." James Fordwaith patted Henry on the shoulder as he slipped past him in order to bless himself.

"Fancy meeting you here Jimmy, how's it going?"

Adam shuddered dramatically, "You know I hate being called that."

"Almost as much as J?"

"Please no."

Henry chuckled and pulled his cousin into a hug. James was the same age as Henry, only a month older.

"I've been…. well the same as usual I suppose, nothing much going on." James' tone was neutral, but something was clearly up.

"Want to talk about it?" Henry was genuinely concerned for his cousin's wellbeing, knowing he been having a very hard time of it, for as long as Henry could remember.

"After Church Hal, but enough about me, how about you? Got yourself nicely set up with your co-captain eh?" James' melancholy disappeared behind a mask of humour.

Henry shook his head, knowing better than to argue with him, "Aye, Darling is an absolutely adorable person and I should really introduce you two."

"Oh no no, I can't meet the great and famous Darjeeling, people might think I'm actually someone important." James' winked at Henry who just rolled his eyes in exasperation

"You put yourself down too much."

"So, I've been told."

Henry chuckled and tugged his cousin by the arm to a nearby Pew. Father Louis had disappeared into the Sacristy and Rosehip slid gracefully, for her, into the seat next to them flashing James a grin.

A small bell chimed, signalling the start of mass.

 ** _An hour later_**

Henry shook Father Louis' hand as he made to leave the Church, the elderly priest gave him a fatherly smile and patted him on the shoulder

"Good job in the last match, who's next?"

"Oh it's Anzio, our dearest brothers in faith."

"I trust you won't go easy on them despite that?" Louis' chuckled

"Wouldn't dare dream of it Father." Henry gave him another smile and a nod, before heading out to where James and Rosehip were waiting.

"Rosie, would you mind leaving me and dear old Jimmy alone? We've got to have a cousinly chat."

"Please don't"

"Alright, I'll see you later Henry!" Rosehip flashed a cheeky smile at James before taking off in the opposite direction.

"She wasn't that energetic earlier." Henry shook his head, "Right you, let's find a bench and we'll chat."

"We really don't need to."

"Yes we really -DO-"

James sighed, "Fine." The two cousins strolled through the streets, towards the central park which was still quiet and peaceful. Pigeons scattered from their path as they located a bench to sit on.

"You really need to talk to me more often." Henry chastised James.

"Yeah but then you get all Commander like on me."

"Well if I didn't you'd just keep moping." James scratched as his wrist awkwardly, Henry noticed the movement and sighed. "James, you've not done it, again have you?"

His cousin grimaced, "No, not for a while, just the old scars itching."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah I am Hal, stop."

"Alright alright, I'm just…worried about you James, that's all. You're one of the few family left who actually bother talking to me so I'd rather not lose you as well."

"I know, I know. I don't do that anymore I swear."

"Good." Henry ran his hand through his hair, "What's troubling you this time?"

"It's gonna sound pathetic."

"I doubt it."

"No it really will…. I'm just….lonely I suppose."

Henry's eyes softened as he looked at his cousin, who's own stare had drifted off into the distance.

"You know you're not alone right?"

"It's not that."

Like a cog clicking into place, Henry understood.

"Ah I see, still single then?"

"Is there even a need to ask that?"

Henry huffed, "Well I don't know James. You've got the Fordwaith looks and charm, when you decide to us it that is. All I can say is stop being so damn down all the time and you'll be fine."

"Easier said than done. I find it impossible to talk to anyone at all."

"I can help with that I suppose." James perked up, throwing a painfully eager glance at his cousin.

"You can?"

"Yep" Henry popped the P, "We're against Anzio next match, and I know for a fact a few of the girls over there are single. Particularly one Blonde second in command, who I know quite well because she's also Catholic."

"You and Blondes." James chuckled

"Hey! Do you want me to do this or not?"

James shrugged, "Well I suppose there isn't any harm in trying."

Henry slapped him on the back, "That's the spirit! Now do you want to come back to mine for breakfast?"

"God no" James shuddered "No offence but I've heard tales of your girlfriends cooking and I really don't want to see you domesticated, it's just -wrong-."

Henry burst out laughing, "Oh yeah her cooking is one thing that leaves a lot to desire, but don't tell her I said that, I'll get shot out of the Churchills barrel."

"Are you that whipped?"

"Nooooooooo." Henry punched James on the shoulder and the two shared a laugh as the sun properly rose over the Ark Royal.


End file.
